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November 17, 2008
Interesting perspectives at Ernst and Young’s Hedge Fund Symposium

During a recent Ernst and Young Hedge Fund Symposium, industry leaders spoke on various topics affecting today's fund managers.  A veteran panel list addressed numerous hot topics and below are a few interesting points gathered. 

• Amidst the continued bleak economic times, Fund managers looking to raise capital are honoring High water Marks of other funds if the investor joins their fund.
• Fund Managers are beginning to utilize gates and suspensions to prevent redemptions more than ever before. The practice of such methods is to protect the fund but highly scrutinized as many partnership documents may not outline exact terms. The ongoing argument asks whether these methods are a kiss of death or is the fund manager carrying out their fiduciary responsibility.
• More disclosure of fund assets are being required. The idea is to not steal the strategy away from the fund, rather provide insight into the risk levels of the fund including Leveraged ratios, # of days within a position and comingling practices.
• While there are bold predictions that as many as 50% o Hedge Funds will close by the end of 2009, many believe that the market will return in Q2 or Q3 of next year. The turnaround will likely lead with commitments from European investors seeking US based funds.

November 11, 2008
Winter Internship Program

Archway Technology Partners is excited to announce that due to the success of the summer program, we are extending the internship program to the winter term.  Archway is actively looking for talented individuals to join the Services and Support teams.  Ideal candidates would be juniors and seniors that have demonstrated excellence in the classroom while being active in university clubs or community events.  If you meet this criteria or know someone that might, please visit our Current Openings page.

October 30, 2008
GAIM Fund of Fund

Earlier this week Archway Technology Partners had the opportunity to be the Executive Sponsor of the GAIM Fund of Hedge Funds conference in New York.  In addition to great networking opportunities, the conference provided tremendous insight into the thoughts and strategies of some of the industry leaders.  Among some of the thoughts the talented group shared were; many agreed the Hedge Fund industry would realize a drastic reduction in the number of Hedge Funds, perhaps as much as 25 or 50 percent.  In large, the reduction will be a result of poor market performance and large redemption requests. Many leaders expect there to be a large increase in the number of mini-primes as prime brokers will be much more selective in the Funds they choose to work with.  Experts also suggest an increase the Separately Managed Accounts.  SMA's would allow an investor to participate in the strategy but not in the fund.  New Fund managers see this as an opportunity to attract investors while having to prove their performance before taking the standard management and performance fees. The Archway team would like to thank the conference attendees, organizers and panel members for putting together an outstanding three day event.

October 15, 2008
ATWeb 4.1.7 Release

This release presents Archway clients with new features available in ATWeb.  As we continue a relentless focus to grow the application through your feedback, we are pleased to incorporate several updates that include the following enhancements:

Customer-Level Dashboard:  User defined dashboards enable clients to customize the presentation of summary and detailed information.  Furthermore, each dashboard provides drill through reporting for further analysis.

Report Favorites:  With our growing list of standard reports available, Archway understands users have preferences on which reports they want to launch quickly.  Report favorites are logged for each users preference and even available to launch from the dashboard.

User Account Security UI and Roll-Out:  Good stuff but we can give too many details!

Investor Login Changes:  Managers have even more controls on the type of information that is released to their investors.  Each data element can be controlled to fit manager preferences.

Archway's goals is to continue designing and delivering applications that provide managers, executives and operational staff with industry leading tools to help support and grow their business.

October 02, 2008
Recent observations of the Investment Community

After several discussions with clients and prospects, attending conferences and a turbulent month of September, the following points are a few observations about the marketplace:

• Many sizable hedge funds are forced to close because of the fall of Lehman Brothers and unfortunately, there isn't a clear distinction as to when fund managers may be able to recoup assets tied up
• With the exception of start-up funds, hedge fund expenses are expected to be flat for the next year. Most of the spending will be on front-end ‘revenue generating' opportunities
• With tighter transparency and controls coming, using a Fund Administrator is even more attractive for Investor and Manager confidence. There is a popular notion that "Administration / Outsourced Accounting" provides another level of checks and balances" necessary today
• Treasury is a BIG key and very scarce for funds (raising capital, bank lending)
• Due to onshore and offshore Tax considerations "Mini-Master Feeder" structures are becoming popular

Additionally, tighter controls and more transparency for investors and regulatory arms will likely push all private investment groups to move toward implementing applications with enforced accounting controls providing more insight into the health of the organization and sometimes position summaries.  If you are interested in getting ahead of the curve with an integrated accounting and administration solution, please complete the Information Request Form to the left of the page.

September 23, 2008
FRA Hedge Fund Business Operations

Later this week, Archway Technology Partners will sponsor and participate in the 3^rd Annual Meeting of the Hedge Fund Business Operations Association at the Helmsley Hotel in New York City.  The FRA team has proactively revised the conference agenda to address the recent activity in the market and industry.  Sample sessions include:

• Regulatory Trends and Enforcement Update
• Counterparty Risk Issues: Lessons Learned From The Recent Credit/Liquidity Crisis
• From Start-Ups To Established Funds: Building and Maintaining An Infrastructure To Support Fund Operations
• The Next Generation Hedge Fund: Supporting The Infrastructure Of The Multi-Strategy/Product Funds
• Hedge Fund Accounting and Tax Review
• What Hedge Funds Will Look Like In 2009

If you will attend, please stop by our booth for a more formal introduction and nice give-a ways!  Otherwise, we are happy to provide follow up details to anyone interested.

September 18, 2008
College Recruiting important to Archway’s growth

With the new academic year underway, Archway has had the opportunity to participate in several Career fairs this month.  College graduates and experienced hires are vitally important to Archway's growth plans.  While most of the recruiting efforts target candidates with Finance, Accounting and Programming backgrounds, we are always interested in evaluating Marketing candidates.  If you are interested in opportunities with Archway Technology, please visit our Careers page.  Come join a dynamic team with endless opportunities.

Archway Technology Partners is a global software company supporting the operations of private investment companies such as Hedge Funds, Fund of Funds, Family Offices, Multi-Family Offices, Fund Administrators and Real Estate Funds.

September 10, 2008
Archway Services Overview

In addition to product sales and application support, Archway also offers clients a variety of technology-based services.  Archway brings to the table many years of technology consulting experience from both inside the investment partnership community and beyond.  Listed below are the services offered by Archway. 

• Implementation Support & Training - Archway provides services in the implementation and support of the ATWeb products. From installation and data conversion to end-user training, Archway uses time-tested methodologies to help ensure a successful implementation of the ATWeb technology platform.  The implementation methodology is suitable for Family Offices, Hedge Funds, Fund of Funds, Private Equity, Real Estate groups.
  
  
• System Integration - Archway's products have been designed and developed with an open framework in anticipation of clients requiring integrations with other external systems. This design decision means that Archway can quickly and efficiently design a customized solution and develop the integrations necessary to integrate two or more independent software products. ATWeb currently integrates with numerous brokerages and order management systems (OMSs) as sources for inbound data. Furthermore, Archway offers to its clients a direct IDC feed to support corporate action and security pricing uploads.
  
  
• Custom Development & Report Writing - Archway's development architecture allows for custom functions and reports to be built directly into the product and made available only to certain clients. In addition to custom development, Archway embraces the concept of co-development, whereby clients pay for the initial development of system functionality. Afterwards, Archway accepts the continued development and upkeep of the functions in return for the rights to include the functionality in the base product.
  
  
• Operations Outsourcing - With an organizational focus on client service, Archway is committed to helping clients gain more bandwidth from their technology investment. The Operations Outsourcing program allows Archway staff to manage a client's back-office needs through the ATWeb platform on daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly cycles. A set of Service Level Agreements are established with each client participating in the program which define processing timelines and system output a client can expect for each accounting cycle. Archway's Outsourcing is designed to allow clients to reap the benefits of Archway products while relieving clients of the obligations associated with operating an enterprise-class application.

August 26, 2008
Archway’s Legacy application, ATPartnership, officially retired

Despite the fact the company was launched and sustained on the success of the ATPartnership platform, Archway has recently retired the application and has successfully migrated all legacy clients to the ATWeb platform.  Today, Archway markets a single product, ATWeb, and a host of services designed to enhance a client's investment in ATWeb.  In addition to standard deployment services, Archway also offers additional value added services to help clients extract additional value from their technology investment.

While retiring ATPartnership could have been initially perceived as a limiting move, Archway has maintained significant focus on evolving the flagship product, ATWeb, for use in multiple markets rather than releasing different products for each of the markets we serve.  This decision results in significant efficiencies in code reuse and reduced maintenance, even if it does require advanced design to allow the integration of new capabilities into a large, mature application without introducing undue burden on the user community.

Today, our ATWeb platform has demonstrated direct application and success in several investment markets: Hedge Funds, Family Offices, Private Equity, Real Estate, Investement Advisors and Administrators.

August 14, 2008
Hedge Fund Strategy Composition: 2008 vs 1990

According to a recent study by Hedge Fund Research, the composition percentage of Hedge Fund strategies in Q2 2008 was Equity 34.92, Relative Value 24.54, Event-Driven 23.9 and Macro 16.64 percent.  This differs from the 1990 composition percentage of Equity 37.07, Macro 39.3, Relative Value 13.88 and Event-Driven of 9.75. 

It is likely the sharp increase in the Event-Driven category relates to the distressed restructuring / debt and Credit Arbitrage strategies employed today.  Additionally, Relative Value increases are likely attributed to an uncertain economy and investors seeking steady returns through Fixed Income portfolios.

August 06, 2008
ATWeb 4.1.5 Released

Last week the Archway team released significant enhancements to the ATWeb platform.  ATWeb v4.1.5 is labeled as the first major release within the past several months.  While our client base has received formal communication and training as needed, we feel it is our obligation to highlight a few enhancements to our regular readers, prospects and partners.  A subset of the enhancements include the following:

Investor Login - The Investor Login has a redesigned user interface including more graphical and charting options.  Additionally, all fund documents including Subscription Agreements, Management Letters, Valuation Sheets, Broker Statements and other Fund Performance documentation can now be viewed and launched on a single screen.

Batch Processing Scheduler - New tools are available through a Customer Processing Module designed to allow organizations with large numbers of legal entities to efficiently use the ATWeb system.  The Customer Processing Module allows users to import data across the books of all of their system entities, automate the time consuming tasks associated with data reconciliation, facilitate multi-source reconciliation and schedule batch posting and period closing functions.

Reporting - Several new Partnership, Portfolio, Financial and Investor related reports were released.  These reports can now be exported directly to MS Excel at runtime, in addition to .pdf and email.

July 30, 2008
Upcoming Conference Discounts

Archway will be a key sponsor for the 6^th Annual Hedge Fund Business Operations Forum on September 26^th and the GAIM Fund of Funds event on October 27^th.  As part of our sponsorship, we are excited to extend discounts to our friends!

If you are interested in learning more about Hedge Fund Accounting, Portfolio Accounting and Reporting and Operational Best Practices, this could be a great opportunity to hear first hand from industry leaders.  To secure your reservation, contact us today using the form to the left of the screen or our main line at (212) 904-0279.  We look forward to seeing you there!

July 17, 2008

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July 16, 2008
ATWeb 4.1.4 Release

The Archway team is excited to announce a few updates to the ATWeb platform.  Within the past few weeks, ATWeb v4.1.4 was released with several enhancements that provide utilities to help convert historical data more quickly into ATWeb from other sources and enables better processing of Capital Account Transfers. 

These enhancements will provide our implementation team with more tools to convert prior period information, including fund accounting and partnership accounting entries.  Additionally, another feature has been added to ATWeb to allow for an efficient method by which to transfer capital from one equity account to another. 

Please look for upcoming correspondence that includes information about an upcoming 'major' release!

July 09, 2008
Hedge Fund Software Quantitative Study

Archway Technology Partners conducted a study where they operated a representative hedge fund for 12 months in the ATWeb accounting platform.  ATWeb was used in this capacity as it supports, in an integrated fashion, the business functions described in this paper.  As such, it presents a logical foundation upon which to understand the interrelationships of hedge fund operations.

The goal of the study was to generate a data set that could then be evaluated to quantifiably characterize the back office of hedge fund operations.

After the sample fund was operated for 12 months, every transaction created in the system, either manually by users or automatically by the system, was assigned to one of the four primary business functions: Portfolio Accounting, Partnership Accounting, Investor Accounting and Investor Relations. 

The raw data presents a striking result whereby less than 19 percent of all system transactions were attributable to the Portfolio Accounting function.   Understanding most hedge fund operations focus exclusively on portfolio management and the natural byproduct of portfolio management being portfolio accounting, far less than one quarter of the data required to characterize a well controlled hedge fund operation would be generated.  

Furthermore, over 75 percent of the transaction data is directly attributable to Partnership Accounting and Investor Accounting; the two functions most hedge fund operations understand the least.  Additional data is certainly not required to demonstrate very clearly why most hedge fund operations are still in disarray and, most alarming, not even recognized as being in disarray by those responsible for maintaining order.

The results above would lead any reader to naturally draw the conclusion that hedge fund managers should focus on Investor Accounting and by doing so would add tremendous control to their operations.  Although the numbers would indicate this perspective to be true, many business processes within a hedge fund's operations actually span multiple, if not all, of the  four major functions outlined earlier.

To help characterize this relationship between the four major operational functions, Archway went to an additional level of detail in the study by decomposing a hedge fund operation into the major business processes conducted.  Business processes are those tasks that need to be performed by a hedge fund management organization, as compared to the four business functions which are classes of responsibility of the hedge fund as a whole.

Although a generalization, the ten business processes below were selected to characterize a hedge fund operation.

• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Asset Management
• Financial Statements
• Investor Allocations
• Management and Incentive Fees
• Withdrawal Processing
• Contribution Processing
• Investor Statements
• Tax Returns

Again, every transaction created in the system, either manually by users or automatically by the system, was assigned to one of the ten business processes described above.

Although interesting that the Investor Allocations process accounts for more than 64% othe total transactions in the system, these numbers alone still do not address how the ten business processes actually participate in satisfying each of the four business functions we began with.  

The first conclusion that can be drawn from the table above is that several mission critical processes span multiple functional silos, demonstrating the importance of addressing a full back office operation when evaluating the controls of any hedge fund. 

The second, and arguably most important element of the study, is that in order to truly perform the Investor Allocation process, which accounted for more than 64 percent of the transactions included in the study, a hedge fund operation must address all components of back office management including Portfolio Accounting, Partnership Accounting and Investor Accounting.

The cross-functional nature of business processes found in hedge fund operations is the result of the dependence of processes such as Investor Allocations on data generated and required to maintain true Portfolio Accounting.  Investor Allocations is but one example of this type of cross-functional process found in hedge fund accounting operations.

For a complete review of this study, request a copy from Drew Alexander at dalexander@archwaytechnology.net.

July 02, 2008
Hedge Fund Operations

The back office of a hedge fund operation can be generalized into four primary aggregations of business function: Portfolio Accounting, Partnership Accounting, Investor Accounting and Investor Relations.

Not surprisingly, a significant component of a hedge fund's back office will be driven by the activity found in the management of the portfolio.  This should not be confused with the activities associated with investment and evaluation; rather, it is the financial implications of the decisions and executions that are conducted.  Portfolio Accounting is easily described as understanding the character of profit and loss generated by a fund's portfolio (e.g. unrealized gains, short term gains, long term gains, etc.).  

Raw portfolio profit figures are virtually useless when trying to manage the taxable implications of profit, which can have a tremendous effect on the net resultant profit an investor enjoys.

Beyond Portfolio Accounting, management focus gets blurry if the eyes are even open at all.  If General Motors owned its dealerships, General Motors would not report to the street profitability of the dealerships.  Nor should hedge funds assume that the financial character of returns generated by the portfolio alone be construed as partnership accounting.  

Partnership accounting is "the rest of the picture" in truly understanding a hedge fund's balance sheet and periodic income statements.  Although the portfolio is a significant contributing factor to these financial statements, there are several other influences in the true financial complexion of a hedge fund.  Most hedge funds maintain bank accounts and relationships with other service providers that will generate additional fund profit or expense, including the impact of various accruals.  All of this information is required to truly present a consolidated set of financials that describe the performance and health of a hedge fund's operations.

Moving down the line, the next level of detail is at the investor level.  Ultimately, a hedge fund is operated under partnership accounting guidelines, which means that the financials produced by the fund are truly the property of an underlying set of investors.  All income or loss must be translated into the effect that the income or loss has on each individual investor.  Furthermore, mechanisms must be in place to ensure that the income carries the appropriate taxable nature as the hedge fund industry has available to it many methods of accounting for gain character at the investor level.  Also included in this function is understanding the effect of management and incentive fees, both of which are traditionally calculated at the investor-level for US hedge funds.  These fees can also have an effect on how the character of income or loss at the investor level is described.

Lastly, not only are hedge funds required to maintain detailed records for very complicated functions of portfolio, partnership and investor accounting, they are also responsible for reporting on a routine basis to their investors the performance of investor capital.  This function is more than just reporting.  Since hedge funds are restricted from most forms of marketing, most capital is raised either directly or indirectly through existing investors.  This means that keeping investors satisfied is imperative to the future ability of the fund to raise capital.

It is challenging to describe hedge fund operations in merely a series of paragraphs under four main headings.  But even within the paragraphs above, it is easy to begin understanding the true complexities of hedge fund operations.  These are the same operational characteristics that are often overlooked as they require an understanding of  partnership accounting, not portfolio management, to truly articulate.

The hedge fund industry has not yet matured to the point where it is garnering attention from independent evaluation sources such as Gartner Group.  As such, it is has until now been difficult to speak quantitatively as to where the most attention should be focused when applying controls in hedge fund operations.

June 23, 2008
Obstacles to a Hedge Fund's growth

This week we'll continue on from last week's blog and discuss the ‘Obstacles to a Hedge Fund's Growth.'   The truth is that a business of any size can be built on a solid set of controls.  Back to the original question - why are there so few controls found in US hedge fund operations?  There are two driving factors why US hedge funds lack internal controls and formal operations.

First, hedge funds are traditionally operated with two sources of income: the management fee and the incentive fee.   The management fee is intended to cover operating expenses, salaries, rent, etc.  The incentive fee is the reward for generating profits for the investors, usually characterized in terms of excess over a predefined and representative rate of market returns.

Because the expenses required to operate a hedge fund are much lower in total and simpler in nature than more traditional businesses, there is a very clear correlation of every dollar of expense as related to every dollar that goes into management coffers.  After all, there is no return of the management fee for expense dollars not spent.  It is all considered excess and remains property of the management company. 

Long story short, fund management will feel a very direct impact of expenses associated with running the business and will usually elect to only invest in the operations of the business to the extent those investments will be seen by prospective investors and result in additional contributions.

The second driving factor tends to be the management company employees themselves.  Hedge funds employ many of the brightest investment minds in the world.  These minds are often steeped in rich history from Wall Street and have had exposure to the most creative and rewarding investment strategies.  This is a very different set of experiences than those who cut their teeth in large audit and accounting firms.  Unfortunately, to truly understand business operations and controls, the latter of experiences are far more valuable than the former.  

Very often hedge funds open with the brightest of investment talent and virtually no understanding of business operations.  

Because many hedge funds launch without any practical, or unpractical, experience operating businesses, the operations and controls are either given little thought, if any at all.  All "operational" focus is targeted at ensuring the appropriate systems are in place to allow investment evaluation and decision execution.  Most management considers this to be good focus on "back office" controls as it usually involves implementation of technology and process. 

Unfortunately, as expressed in true day-to-day hedge fund operations, these functions are still part of the "front office", or revenue-generating activities.

If investment evaluation and execution systems and processes are not truly back office functions, then what does back office mean?

June 11, 2008
Considerations of Hedge Fund Growth

With the exception of perhaps the largest hedge fund operations, most hedge fund managers would agree that loosening restrictions on investor qualifications would greatly enhance their ability to build long-term, thriving businesses.  For many managers, it is not simply the ability to structure a well thought-out product and generate agreeable returns; it is the restriction on marketing that is the most significant obstacle to the growth of their businesses. 

As has been said here and elsewhere ad nauseam, the US hedge fund industry is most notably characterized by a handful of very significant meltdowns and scandals.  This has left the general public with a very negative perception of an industry that is privy to private information and is only in existence to help the rich get richer.  This perception is more targeted towards the intention of those operating hedge funds than a quantitative and objective review of the industry.  

The authors of this study maintain deep relationships with many across hedge funds small and large and those with operating strategies both simple and complex.  It is very apparent most of these operations strive to maintain well controlled businesses with the genuine best interest of their investors at heart. 

Despite the best of interests and intentions of an industry, the truth is that many hedge fund operations remain loosely controlled environments that lack even the semblance of operational control.  This is alarming when considering that many hedge funds carry higher market values than a sampling of Fortune 500 companies.  Expressed as a hard truth, many of those in the US hedge fund industry operate more like investment clubs than real businesses.

It is important, however, to understand why hedge funds are not being operated with the care required.  After all, if hedge funds want access to capital and they want to operate like well controlled businesses, why are they being operated with so few controls?  

Would General Motors build a new car without being able to market it on a broad basis?  This is exactly what most hedge fund managers are asked to do: build a business with limited access to customers.  This constraint forces the hedge fund manager to make economic decisions on where to focus attention in building his or her business.  Attention is first placed on attracting capital, then generating returns to maintain a customer base, and so-on.  This argument is what most would like to present as a good reason more control is not applied in hedge fund operations.  Truth be told, it is not accurate.

The argument above is a redirection of responsibility that allows a hedge fund to operate with loose controls in a "justifiable" manner.  After all, if I can't market, how can I generate the foundation of a business to implement the required controls?

June 05, 2008
New staff joins Archway team

We are excited to begin new staff orientation again this week.  These are exciting times at Archway and we have recruited and selected a new class to join Archway's Services and Support teams.  This team is comprised of recent graduates and experienced hires.  Archway is very pleased to have this talented group come aboard. 

Although there will be learning curves and fun challenges ahead, our professional development creed is to provide professional growth while facilitating work-life balance. "I decided to join the Archway team because of the unique opportunity to start a career related to accounting/ finance in the technology industry.  Archway Technology Partners is filled with very knowledgeable, helpful, friendly people who I know I will learn a great deal from. They strive for excellence in what they do and are committed to helping me strive for that same level of achievement." says new hire Laura Enos-Shepard.  This group will complete Archway's CORE training program will be deployed to help you accomplish your organizational goals soon!

May 29, 2008

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May 28, 2008
Conference and Forum circuit

First, we hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend!  And we're excited summer is around the corner which includes a busy conference circuit.  Last week was a great opportunity to participate in a few conferences and stay in front of the private investment industry's hot topics and trends.  The two events we were invited to attend were the IPI Spring Conference for Private Investors (particularly Family Offices) and the Hedge Fund Accounting and Administration and Tax Master Class. 

The events were educational and always provide great networking opportunities.  It was also nice to see a few ATWeb clients in attendance!  In the coming weeks we will continue speaking at events and sponsoring sessions.  Next on the agenda is the Family Office Metrics conference in San Francisco, June 9^th and 10^th.  We will present a case study of how Family Offices and Multi-Family Offices have success using our comprehensive middle and back office accounting software, ATWeb.

If you or an associate might be attending an upcoming conference or seminar, let us know as we are happy to send a presentation in advance and sometimes can extend participant discounts.

May 21, 2008
New ATWeb Developments

The development team here at Archway has been particularly busy, working to make the ATWeb platform an even better solution for any hedge fund, family office or private investment company.  As a result of valuable user feedback and Archway's proactive development approach, many great enhancements to the system are currently in the works.  Some of the initiatives currently being worked on by the development team include:

• Development of a new reporting platform and infrastructure
• A multitude of new performance reports
• Increased investor relationship management features and access to investor information for Fund managers
• System optimization - while solid, it can always make it better!

Archway is committed to developing new and innovative solutions to complement our Fund Accounting and Administration software.  Stay tuned for many more enhancements in the weeks to come.

May 14, 2008
Introduction of Hedge Fund strategies

In a general sense, Hedge Funds are private investment pools for qualified investors.  Hedge Fund managers will often charge a management and performance fee of 2 and 20 percent of assets under management.  Hedge Funds can have very diverse investment strategies and we'll outline a few below. 

The first is global macro investments where investors try to anticipate which direction the global macroeconomic market will move.  The second type of investing is directional, which includes such subcategories as long/short equity, emerging markets, and short bias.  Event-driven investing is when an individual takes advantage of pricing inefficiencies that are results of specific corporate events.  The last type of investing is relative value. One of the most common types of investing in a bearish market is "short selling."  This is when a manager will sell securities they do not own and will then try to repurchase them later at a lower price.  During a bullish market, a common practice is purchasing a security when the price is low with the hopes that the price of the security will quickly rise.

The value of Hedge Fund software, ATWeb, is to view your portfolio of investments, update pricing, perform fee allocations, complete partnership accounting and fund accounting, track suspected wash sales, and produce consolidated performance reports.  Document Management can be used to store broker statements and subscription agreements online.  In addition, ATWeb will cleanly manage virtually every investment vehicle.

May 05, 2008
Learn the Archway history

In the late 1990s the founders of Archway undertook an initiative much like the one every one of our customers has undertaken. We attempted to launch a hedge fund management organization. Through that experience we recognized a significant void in the market: a robust accounting system made available to the little guy.

As backgrounds go, we all hailed from (former) Big 6 accounting firms and recognized that most technology solutions available for financial management of capital pools pre-2000 were erroneously focused exclusively on portfolio accounting. Although an integral component of a fund's financial makeup, we immediately recognized something was missing. The General Ledger.

We set out to not only fill the void in the market, but to also build a true GL-based accrual accounting system. What resulted is the only true GL-based accounting system available to, and geared for, private equity firms of all varieties.

We have now served this industry for nearly 10 years and have deep customer bases spanning hedge funds, family offices, real estate and venture capital firms both domestic and abroad. As evidence of our belief in what we do, Archway runs on the ATWeb accounting platform.

We have a very firm belief that great technology is not great if it can't be implemented. This is apparent in our relentless commitment to customer success and satisfaction.

Most importantly, we understand the challenges you face as we have sat in your seat.

This industry is exciting in that it constantly changes and has a tremendous amount of growth potential on a domestic and international scale. We are elated to participate in this industry and are looking forward to being an integral part of the private equity community for many years to come.

Enjoy the information on our website and we look forward to speaking with you in the near future.

April 26, 2008
Archway launched updated website

Our team is proud to announce we have updated our company website.  By adding new information, revised navigation and industry specific content, the new website should provide for a more friendly end-user experience.  And like ATWeb has evolved through your feedback, we appreciate your comments on helping make the website better! 

A few updates include:

• Interactive Approach - The web pages are deployed with the intent to be interactive and more user-friendly. Highlights include more of an industry focus that shares a story board of pain points and how our technology and services could be a solution. Check out the Industry links to the right of the home page!
• Management Blog - Archway leadership will provide perspective on Industry hot-topics and news that effect our customers, prospects and employees. Insight about the solutions being developed and upcoming releases will also be shared.
• Downloadable Materials - Whitepapers, Brochures and Solution Sheets are available to provide targeted information by industry and solution. Visitors will now have more tailored information available further describing our offerings and findings in the Industry.

We hope you enjoy the new site. Be sure to stop by and review the management blog and latest press releases!