With over 1,500 employees in international locations, over 250 employees and 40 partners dedicated to the financial services practice, EisnerAmper LLP has the breadth to handle global engagements and provide comprehensive guidance and support to its roster of hedge fund clients.
EisnerAmper currently services over 1,300 hedge funds and 200 private equity/venture capital sponsors. Whomever the client, the firm always strives to speak their language and avoid using technical accounting jargon.
A “clients first” approach is central to the EisnerAmper philosophy. It is often chosen both as an alternative to “Big 4” firms as well as a supplementary advisor to funds that use Big 4 firms. According to Frank Napolitani, Director, Financial Services at EisnerAmper LLP, EisnerAmper provides Big 4 experience and sophistication, “with the rates and personal attention more characteristic of a smaller firm”.
“Our reputation for delivering proactive, responsive, high quality service is due, in part, to our commitment to partner level involvement. Our partners are more actively engaged and spend more time with their clients than is the norm among larger firms,” he says.
Recently, EisnerAmper has won a number of significant fund launch mandates away from the Big 4. Some of these launches have received the backing of well known global investors and as Napolitani remarks: “When it comes to passing operational due diligence and vendor selection by well-known investors of that calibre, it is very helpful for us to win those mandates.
“The CFOs of these particular fund launches – the largest being USD250 million – have worked with middle-market firms in the past and I think they realise that, rather than have a higher touch from an upper middle-market firm, the technical expertise is not much different to that found in the middle-market, where the costs are more palatable.”
To be published later this spring, EisnerAmper recently conducted a hedge fund survey, garnering 244 responses across fund managers with an aggregate AUM of nearly USD400 billion. In terms of the number one item keeping them awake at night when passing operational due diligence, 35 per cent of respondents cited cyber security.
“We read about cyber attacks on a daily basis but there are so many attacks happening that we never hear about. It’s a big deal for fund managers today, as well as investors and service providers,” says Napolitani.
To deal with the cyber threats facing the industry, EisnerAmper has a cyber security advisory team within the overall consultancy practice.
He notes that whilst outsourcing the compliance function remains popular among fund managers, particularly those with less than USD250 million in AUM, one of the biggest areas of growth is the outsourced CFO business.
“We have proposed on 24 new fund launches already this year, and only two of them will launch with a CFO. Spending USD70,000 on outsourcing the CFO function compared to an internal spend of USD400,000 on talent and technology, is a huge advantage and importantly, it is becoming an accepted practice among institutional investors here in the US,” states Napolitani.
On winning this year’s award, he concludes: “We are honoured and proud to be recognised by Hedgeweek as the Best Global Accounting Firm. This speaks to the commitment we have to our clients in providing high quality service and expertise by our dedicate partners and staff”.
