Technology now is almost unrecognizable from what it was two decades ago. Computers have evolved from bulky desktops to cloud-native platforms running artificial intelligence. For the same reason professionals don't run Windows 95, there is a modern alternative to mainstream portfolio accounting products such as Advent Geneva — and its name is Perfona.
Architecture & Design
The most fundamental difference in Perfona is how it's designed. Perfona is entirely web-based, allowing users to access it through any browser without installing a bulky application. This allows any number of employees to simultaneously view and edit the latest data — in-office, off-premises, or on mobile — with no extra effort or cost. Perfona is fully serviced by OpEff, requiring no in-house setup or maintenance, utilizing high-security cloud computing infrastructure.
Advent Geneva and legacy systems often demand several in-house servers with costly setup and maintenance. This contributes to significantly higher total cost of ownership (TCO), further exacerbated by in-house IT resources, personnel time commitment, and multiple third-party services required for operation.
Features & Capabilities
Due to its more advanced technology foundation, Perfona supports a growing list of features that reduce reliance on third-party applications. These include investor management, a built-in CRM system, waterfall calculator, research management, reconciliation engine, data warehouse, and a tax module — whereas competitors lack some, if not all, of these modules.
Feature Comparison Matrix
| Feature | Perfona | Advent Geneva / FIS Investran / Allvue & Legacy Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting | ||
| True web-based technology | ✓ Yes | No |
| Month-end period closing | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Derivatives support | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Equities and bonds | ✓ Yes | Yes |
| Legal entity allocations | ✓ Yes | No |
| Tax lot accounting | ✓ Yes | Yes |
| Real-time general ledger | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Pricing / Valuation | ✓ Yes | Yes |
| Settle / Trade date | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Chart of accounts | ✓ Yes | Yes |
| Custom security master | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Portfolio Management | ||
| Single system for front, middle and back office | ✓ Yes | No |
| Order management system | ✓ Yes | No |
| Portfolio dashboards | ✓ Yes | No |
| Block trade allocations | ✓ Yes | No |
| Trade blotter | ✓ Yes | No |
| Compliance | ✓ Yes | No |
| Portfolio rebalancer | ✓ Yes | No |
| Research management | ✓ Yes | No |
| Investor Management | ||
| Waterfall allocations | ✓ Yes | No (Separate products) |
| Tracking of LPs | ✓ Yes | No |
| CRM | ✓ Yes | No |
| Investor statements | ✓ Yes | No |
| Private equity module | ✓ Yes | No |
| Custom scripted waterfalls | ✓ Yes | No |
| Investor portal | ✓ Yes | No |
| Investor liquidity projections | ✓ Yes | No |
| Data Warehouse & Automation | ||
| Data warehouse | ✓ Yes | No |
| Third-party integration | ✓ Yes | No |
| Fund admin data ingestion | ✓ Yes | No |
| Reconciliation tool | ✓ Yes | No |
| Data room | ✓ Yes | No |
| Bulk uploads | ✓ Yes | Yes |
| Technology | ||
| Shared and dedicated tenancy | ✓ Yes | No |
| True cloud | ✓ Yes | No |
| Mobile support | ✓ Yes | No |
| RESTful APIs | ✓ Yes | No |
| Scalability | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Business intelligence | ✓ Yes | No |
| Customized reports | ✓ Yes | Some |
| Services | ||
| Fully managed service | ✓ Yes | No |
| Outsourced back-office support | ✓ Yes | No |
| Month-end recs to fund admin | ✓ Yes | No |
| Outsourced IT/programming | ✓ Yes | No |