Investments, Level of Detail

In Durell investment “policies” may be entered with differing levels of detail. You can choose to enter one client’s policies with details of all the funds and a transaction trail of all income taken, while for another you might just enter the basic policy information. The point is to avoid unnecessary work. A client with a regular savings plan of £20 per month may not require detailed valuations, while a client with a £20,000,000 portfolio will probably expect regular valuations with a high level of detail. The detail levels are…

• LOW – Full policy information but with a summary value and fund details in note form
• MEDIUM – Full policy AND fund details, but only showing the original & current values
• HIGH – Full policy and fund details PLUS a full transaction trail of income, dividends, etc

Low Detail – Just Using Summary Values

This level of detail (illustrated below) is suited to clients with one or two regular savings plans, who do not expect to receive detailed valuations.

• You can process compliance
• You can process commission
• You can hold policy information for reference purposes (N.B. with fund details as notes)
• You can use the policy information for analyses and mail shots
• You do not need to subscribe to a data-feed service for investment fund prices

• You have to manually update each investment’s valuation summary
• You cannot do bulk re-valuations

• You can produce valuations, but without fund details, and only on a one-off manual basis

Medium Detail – Using Fund Totals Without Events & Transactions

This level of detail (see below) is suited to the bulk of clients with investment portfolios, who expect to receive regular valuations. It takes less time to maintain than the “High” level. Its only shortcomings are for detailed analysis and the calculation of capital growth.

• You ought to subscribe to a data-feed service for investment fund prices
• You have to manually update each fund’s current unit holdings (or get them via Durell’s automated Contract Enquiry service)
• You can do bulk re-valuations quickly
• You can produce valuations with fund details

High Detail – Using Funds, Events & Transactions

This level of detail (see below) is suited to “high net worth” clients with substantial investment portfolios, who expect to receive detailed valuations. It is also essential for the calculation of capital growth (i.e. because you have to know at which dates what was bought or sold).

• You have to manually update each fund’s current unit holdings AND enter all transactions for each fund
• You will retain a full transaction trail

See also “Investments, Deleting Funds and Events”