Free CFA-Level-III Exam Braindumps (page: 35)

Sue Gano and Tony Cismesia are performance analysts for the Barth Group. Barth provides consulting and compliance verification for investment firms wishing to adhere to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS ®). The firm also provides global performance evaluation and attribution services for portfolio managers. Barth recommends the use of GIPS to its clients due to its prominence as the standard for investment performance presentation.
One of the Barth Group's clients, Nigel Investment Advisors, has a composite that specializes in exploiting the results of academic research. This Contrarian composite goes long "loser" stocks and short "winner" stocks. The "loser' stocks are those that have experienced severe price declines over the past three years, while the "winner" stocks are those that have had a tremendous surge in price over the past three years. The Contrarian composite has a mixed record of success and is rather small. It contains only four portfolios. Gano and Cismesia debate the requirements for the Contrarian composite under the Global Investment Performance Standards.
The Global Equity Growth composite of Nigel Investment Advisors invests in growth stocks internationally, and is tilted when appropriate to small cap stocks. One of Nigel's clients in the Global Equity Growth composite is Cypress University. The university has recently decided that it would like to implement ethical investing criteria in its endowment holdings. Specifically, Cypress does not want to hold the stocks from any countries that are deemed as human rights violators. Cypress has notified Nigel of the change, but Nigel does not hold any stocks in these countries. Gano is concerned that this restriction may limit investment manager freedom going forward. Gano and Cismesia are discussing the valuation and return calculation principles for both portfolios and composites, which they believe have changed over time. In order to standardize the manner in which investment firms calculate and present performance to clients, Gano states that GIPS require the following: Statement 1: The valuation of portfolios must be based on market values and not book values or cost. Portfolio valuations must be quarterly for all periods prior to January 1, 2001. Monthly portfolio valuations and returns are required for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
Statement 2: Composites are groups of portfolios that represent a specific investment strategy or objective. A definition of them must be made available upon request. Because composites are based on portfolio valuation, the monthly requirement for return calculation also applies to composites for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
The manager of the Global Equity Growth composite has a benchmark that is fully hedged against currency risk. Because the manager is confident in his forecasting of currency values, the manager does not hedge to the extent that the benchmark does. In addition to the Global Equity Growth composite, Nigel Investment Advisors has a second investment manager that specializes in global equity. The funds under her management constitute the Emerging Markets Equity composite. The benchmark for the Emerging Markets Equity composite is not hedged against currency risk. The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite does not hedge due to the difficulty in finding currency hedges for thinly traded emerging market currencies. The manager focuses on security selection in these markets and does not try to time the country markets differently from the benchmark.
The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite would like to add frontier markets such as Bulgaria, Kenya, Oman, and Vietnam to their composite, with a 20% weight- The manager is attracted to frontier markets because, compared to emerging markets, frontier markets have much higher expected returns and lower correlations. Frontier markets, however, also have lower liquidity and higher risk. As a result, the manager proposes that the benchmark be changed from one reflecting only emerging markets to one that reflects both emerging and frontier markets. The date of the change and the reason for the change will be provided in the footnotes to the performance presentation. The manager reasons that by doing so, the potential investor can accurately assess the relative performance of the composite over time.
Cismesia would like to explore the performance of the Emerging Markets Equity composite over the past two years. To do so, he determines the excess return each period and then compounds the excess return over the two years to arrive at a total two-year excess return. For the attribution analysis, he calculates the security selection effect, the market allocation effect, and the currency allocation effect each year. He then adds all the yearly security selection effects together to arrive at the total security selection effect. He repeats this process for the market allocation effect and the currency allocation effect.

Which of the following best describes the currency management of the managers of the Global Equity Growth and the Emerging Markets Equity composites?

Sue Gano and Tony Cismesia are performance analysts for the Barth Group. Barth provides consulting and compliance verification for investment firms wishing to adhere to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS ®). The firm also provides global performance evaluation and attribution services for portfolio managers. Barth recommends the use of GIPS to its clients due to its prominence as the standard for investment performance presentation.
One of the Barth Group's clients, Nigel Investment Advisors, has a composite that specializes in exploiting the results of academic research. This Contrarian composite goes long "loser" stocks and short "winner" stocks. The "loser' stocks are those that have experienced severe price declines over the past three years, while the "winner" stocks are those that have had a tremendous surge in price over the past three years. The Contrarian composite has a mixed record of success and is rather small. It contains only four portfolios. Gano and Cismesia debate the requirements for the Contrarian composite under the Global Investment Performance Standards.
The Global Equity Growth composite of Nigel Investment Advisors invests in growth stocks internationally, and is tilted when appropriate to small cap stocks. One of Nigel's clients in the Global Equity Growth composite is Cypress University. The university has recently decided that it would like to implement ethical investing criteria in its endowment holdings. Specifically, Cypress does not want to hold the stocks from any countries that are deemed as human rights violators. Cypress has notified Nigel of the change, but Nigel does not hold any stocks in these countries. Gano is concerned that this restriction may limit investment manager freedom going forward. Gano and Cismesia are discussing the valuation and return calculation principles for both portfolios and composites, which they believe have changed over time. In order to standardize the manner in which investment firms calculate and present performance to clients, Gano states that GIPS require the following: Statement 1: The valuation of portfolios must be based on market values and not book values or cost. Portfolio valuations must be quarterly for all periods prior to January 1, 2001. Monthly portfolio valuations and returns are required for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
Statement 2: Composites are groups of portfolios that represent a specific investment strategy or objective. A definition of them must be made available upon request. Because composites are based on portfolio valuation, the monthly requirement for return calculation also applies to composites for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
The manager of the Global Equity Growth composite has a benchmark that is fully hedged against currency risk. Because the manager is confident in his forecasting of currency values, the manager does not hedge to the extent that the benchmark does. In addition to the Global Equity Growth composite, Nigel Investment Advisors has a second investment manager that specializes in global equity. The funds under her management constitute the Emerging Markets Equity composite. The benchmark for the Emerging Markets Equity composite is not hedged against currency risk. The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite does not hedge due to the difficulty in finding currency hedges for thinly traded emerging market currencies. The manager focuses on security selection in these markets and does not try to time the country markets differently from the benchmark.
The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite would like to add frontier markets such as Bulgaria, Kenya, Oman, and Vietnam to their composite, with a 20% weight- The manager is attracted to frontier markets because, compared to emerging markets, frontier markets have much higher expected returns and lower correlations. Frontier markets, however, also have lower liquidity and higher risk. As a result, the manager proposes that the benchmark be changed from one reflecting only emerging markets to one that reflects both emerging and frontier markets. The date of the change and the reason for the change will be provided in the footnotes to the performance presentation. The manager reasons that by doing so, the potential investor can accurately assess the relative performance of the composite over time.
Cismesia would like to explore the performance of the Emerging Markets Equity composite over the past two years. To do so, he determines the excess return each period and then compounds the excess return over the two years to arrive at a total two-year excess return. For the attribution analysis, he calculates the security selection effect, the market allocation effect, and the currency allocation effect each year. He then adds all the yearly security selection effects together to arrive at the total security selection effect. He repeats this process for the market allocation effect and the currency allocation effect.

Regarding the Emerging Markets Equity composite, which of the following best describes the manager's incorporation of frontier markets?

Sue Gano and Tony Cismesia are performance analysts for the Barth Group. Barth provides consulting and compliance verification for investment firms wishing to adhere to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS ®). The firm also provides global performance evaluation and attribution services for portfolio managers. Barth recommends the use of GIPS to its clients due to its prominence as the standard for investment performance presentation.
One of the Barth Group's clients, Nigel Investment Advisors, has a composite that specializes in exploiting the results of academic research. This Contrarian composite goes long "loser" stocks and short "winner" stocks. The "loser' stocks are those that have experienced severe price declines over the past three years, while the "winner" stocks are those that have had a tremendous surge in price over the past three years. The Contrarian composite has a mixed record of success and is rather small. It contains only four portfolios. Gano and Cismesia debate the requirements for the Contrarian composite under the Global Investment Performance Standards.
The Global Equity Growth composite of Nigel Investment Advisors invests in growth stocks internationally, and is tilted when appropriate to small cap stocks. One of Nigel's clients in the Global Equity Growth composite is Cypress University. The university has recently decided that it would like to implement ethical investing criteria in its endowment holdings. Specifically, Cypress does not want to hold the stocks from any countries that are deemed as human rights violators. Cypress has notified Nigel of the change, but Nigel does not hold any stocks in these countries. Gano is concerned that this restriction may limit investment manager freedom going forward. Gano and Cismesia are discussing the valuation and return calculation principles for both portfolios and composites, which they believe have changed over time. In order to standardize the manner in which investment firms calculate and present performance to clients, Gano states that GIPS require the following:

Statement 1: The valuation of portfolios must be based on market values and not book values or cost. Portfolio valuations must be quarterly for all periods prior to January 1, 2001. Monthly portfolio valuations and returns are required for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
Statement 2: Composites are groups of portfolios that represent a specific investment strategy or objective. A definition of them must be made available upon request. Because composites are based on portfolio valuation, the monthly requirement for return calculation also applies to composites for periods between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2010.
The manager of the Global Equity Growth composite has a benchmark that is fully hedged against currency risk. Because the manager is confident in his forecasting of currency values, the manager does not hedge to the extent that the benchmark does. In addition to the Global Equity Growth composite, Nigel Investment Advisors has a second investment manager that specializes in global equity. The funds under her management constitute the Emerging Markets Equity composite. The benchmark for the Emerging Markets Equity composite is not hedged against currency risk. The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite does not hedge due to the difficulty in finding currency hedges for thinly traded emerging market currencies. The manager focuses on security selection in these markets and does not try to time the country markets differently from the benchmark.
The manager of the Emerging Markets Equity composite would like to add frontier markets such as Bulgaria, Kenya, Oman, and Vietnam to their composite, with a 20% weight- The manager is attracted to frontier markets because, compared to emerging markets, frontier markets have much higher expected returns and lower correlations. Frontier markets, however, also have lower liquidity and higher risk. As a result, the manager proposes that the benchmark be changed from one reflecting only emerging markets to one that reflects both emerging and frontier markets. The date of the change and the reason for the change will be provided in the footnotes to the performance presentation. The manager reasons that by doing so, the potential investor can accurately assess the relative performance of the composite over time.
Cismesia would like to explore the performance of the Emerging Markets Equity composite over the past two years. To do so, he determines the excess return each period and then compounds the excess return over the two years to arrive at a total two-year excess return. For the attribution analysis, he calculates the security selection effect, the market allocation effect, and the currency allocation effect each year. He then adds all the yearly security selection effects together to arrive at the total security selection effect. He repeats this process for the market allocation effect and the currency allocation effect.
Which of the following best describes Cismesia's calculation of the two-year excess return and two-year attribution analysis for the Emerging Markets Equity composite?

Pace Insurance is a large, multi-line insurance company that also owns several proprietary mutual funds. The funds are managed individually, but Pace has an investment committee that oversees all of the funds. This committee is responsible for evaluating the performance of the funds relative to appropriate benchmarks and relative to the stated investment objectives of each individual fund. During a recent investment committee meeting, the poor performance of Pace's equity mutual funds was discussed. In particular, the inability of the portfolio managers to outperform their benchmarks was highlighted. The net conclusion of the committee was to review the performance of the manager responsible for each fund and dismiss those managers whose performance had lagged substantially behind the appropriate benchmark.

The fund with the worst relative performance is the Pace Mid-Cap Fund, which invests in stocks with a capitalization between S40 billion and $80 billion. A review of the operations of the fund found the following:
• The turnover of the fund was almost double that of other similar style mutual funds.
• The fund's portfolio manager solicited input from her entire staff prior to making any decision to sell an existing holding.
• The beta of the Pace Mid-Cap Fund's portfolio was 60% higher than the beta of other similar style mutual funds.
• No stock is considered for purchase in the Mid-Cap Fund unless the portfolio manager has 15 years of financial information on that company, plus independent research reports from at least three different analysts.
• The portfolio manager refuses to increase her technology sector weighting because of past losses the fund incurred in the sector.
• The portfolio manager sold all the fund's energy stocks as the price per barrel of oil rose above $80. She expects oil prices to fall back to the $40 to S50 per barrel range.
A committee member made the following two comments:
Comment 1: "One reason for the poor recent performance of the Mid-Cap Mutual Fund is that the portfolio lacks recognizable companies. I believe that good companies make good investments."
Comment 2: "The portfolio manager of the Mid-Cap Mutual Fund refuses to acknowledge her mistakes. She seems to sell stocks that appreciate, but hold stocks that have declined in value."

The supervisor of the Mid-Cap Mutual Fund portfolio manager made the following statements:
Statement 1: "The portfolio manager of the Mid-Cap Mutual Fund has engaged in quarter-end window dressing to make her portfolio look better to investors. The portfolio manager's action is a behavioral trait known as over- reaction."
Statement 2: "Each time the portfolio manager of the Mid-Cap Mutual fund trades a stock, she executes the trade by buying or selling one-third of the position at a time, with the trades spread over three months. The portfolio manager's action is a behavioral trait known as anchoring."

A committee member suggested that the portfolio manager of the Mid-Cap Fund may be overconfident about her abilities. Which of the following facts from the review of the Mid-Cap fund is least likely to suggest that the manager is overconfident?