Private Equity

Fund accounting that gets the waterfall right the first time.

Capital account maintenance, carried interest modeling, and LP reporting built for the complexity of private equity structures — without the overhead of a full-service administrator.

The complexity underneath a PE fund

One wrong waterfall assumption, and every downstream number is wrong too.

Private equity fund administration lives and dies on the waterfall. American vs. European calculation methodology, preferred return compounding, GP catch-up mechanics, and clawback exposure all have to be modeled correctly and consistently — because once carried interest has been distributed on a wrong assumption, unwinding it is far more painful than getting it right up front.

Add to that the reality of the J-curve: early fund years show a net negative return as management fees and initial write-downs outpace realized gains, which makes clean, well-explained LP capital statements essential for keeping investor confidence during a period where the numbers alone look discouraging.

Portfolio company valuation is the other half of the equation. Between platform acquisitions, add-ons, dividend recapitalizations, and eventual exits, each portfolio company's carrying value has to be revisited and supported under ASC 820 at every reporting date — not just when something obviously changes.

What I handle

Waterfall & carried interest modeling (American and European methodologies)
Capital account maintenance across GP/LP allocations and co-invest vehicles
Portfolio company fair value support (ASC 820) at every reporting date
Quarterly LP capital statements & capital call/distribution notices
Clawback exposure tracking & GP catch-up calculations
Auditor coordination across master-feeder & parallel fund structures

Where PE fund books get it wrong

Four recurring issues I see when I take over an engagement

Waterfall built once, never revisited

A waterfall model gets built at fund formation and then reused mechanically for years — without accounting for amendments, side letters, or fee offset provisions that quietly change the math.

Stale portfolio marks

Portfolio companies get revalued only at year-end instead of when a triggering event occurs — an add-on acquisition, a recap, a change in EBITDA multiple comparables — leaving interim NAV understated or overstated.

Clawback blind spots

GPs distribute carry on early exits without tracking cumulative clawback exposure across the fund's life, creating an unpleasant surprise if later investments underperform.

Capital statements that don't explain the J-curve

LPs seeing a negative net IRR in years one and two — without context — lose confidence faster than the fund's actual performance warrants. Clear reporting manages this proactively.

What a PE fund's monthly close should cover

The recurring work behind an audit-ready private equity fund

Beyond the waterfall itself, a well-run PE fund close touches several interlocking pieces every period.

Management company allocations

Fee income, expense reimbursements, and cross-charges between the management company and the fund entities need to be tracked and allocated consistently, particularly across multiple fund vintages sharing overhead.

Co-investment vehicle accounting

Deal-by-deal co-invest structures add another layer of capital account tracking and allocation that has to stay perfectly synchronized with the main fund's records.

Debt & leverage schedules

Fund-level credit facilities and portfolio company leverage both need supporting schedules that reconcile to lender statements and inform covenant compliance discussions.

Exit & realization accounting

A full or partial exit triggers waterfall calculations, potential clawback true-ups, and a realized gain that needs to be reflected correctly across every affected LP's capital account in the same period.

Structures I work across

Master-feeder, parallel funds, and everything in between

Private equity funds rarely sit in a single simple entity. I've worked across the structures that make PE fund accounting genuinely complex.

Whichever structure your fund uses, the accounting has to consolidate cleanly for reporting purposes while still tracking each entity's capital accounts, expenses, and allocations separately underneath. That dual requirement — clean at the top, precise underneath — is where a lot of DIY spreadsheet approaches eventually break down as a fund family grows.

Master-feeder structures

Parallel fund vehicles

Cayman & BVI entities

Co-investment SPVs

Continuation funds

Multi-vintage fund families

Get your waterfall and portfolio valuations right from the start.

Bring your LPA and current fund structure to a consultation — we'll walk through where your books stand and what a fixed-fee partnership would look like.

Schedule a Consultation