Does the Buy-Side Need Another Book of Record?

For years, buy-side firms have debated whether they really need another “book of record.”

With accounting platforms producing NAVs, performance systems attributing returns, and risk tools monitoring exposure, introducing yet another authoritative dataset can sound like unnecessary complexity.

The answer depends on what decisions need to be made during the trading day, and which systems are designed to support them.

What is an Investment Book Of Record (IBOR)

An Investment Book of Record (IBOR) is a central repository that consolidates all investment position data into a single source of truth across an organisation. It provides real-time or intra-day updates on trading positions and exposures, which ensures that front- and middle-office teams operate on current information.

Unlike static accounting ledgers, an IBOR is designed for active management. It maintains a continuously updated view of positions during the trading day, based on current market prices and includes unsettled trades and open orders.

Key characteristics include:

• Intra-day updates: Positions are refreshed continuously as trading activity occurs.
  
  
• Market-based valuation: Exposures are reflected using current market prices rather than cost basis.
  
  
• Front- and middle-office alignment: Supports both start-of-day and live position views.
  
  
• Position-level granularity: Maintains visibility into individual positions, including intraday changes.

By consolidating fragmented position data into a consistent real-time view, an IBOR allows portfolio managers and risk teams to assess exposures as they evolve during the trading day. This reduces reliance on manual reconciliation and enables investment decisions to be made without waiting for settlement or end-of-day processes.

What is IBOR Used For?

An IBOR is used to provide a consistent, intraday view of investment positions across the firm, reducing reliance on manual reconciliation and conflicting system outputs.

For portfolio managers, IBOR enables buy and sell decisions to be made using current holdings, exposures, and available-to-trade cash as markets move, rather than relying on T+1 accounting data. This ensures decisions reflect the economic reality of the portfolio during the trading day.

For risk and compliance teams, IBOR supports real-time monitoring of exposures, concentration limits, and leverage. Because it includes unsettled trades and open orders, it reflects risk as it exists at the point of decision, allowing potential breaches to be identified and addressed before execution.

Traders and middle-office teams use IBOR data to reconcile activity across trading, order management, and portfolio systems. A shared position view reduces discrepancies between systems and limits the need for manual investigation during periods of market activity.

In practice, IBOR supports pre-trade compliance by ensuring proposed trades are checked against investment guidelines using current position data.

For example, when a portfolio manager prepares to execute a large equity trade during the trading day, IBOR provides immediate visibility into current exposure, including intraday activity, allowing the decision to be made using up-to-date information.

In practical terms, IBOR answers a single operational question across the firm:

What do we hold right now?

IBOR vs ABOR vs PBOR: Understanding the Differences

Different functions across the investment organisation rely on different definitions of “truth.” Front, middle, and back offices operate on distinct timelines and priorities, which is why multiple Books of Record exist.

Understanding how IBOR, ABOR, and PBOR differ is essential to reducing reconciliation friction and misaligned decision-making.

Accounting Book of Record (ABOR)

The Accounting Book of Record is the authoritative legal record of a fund. It reflects formally settled transactions and operates on closed accounting periods. It uses cost-based valuations to calculate NAV and support fund administration and regulatory reporting. ABOR is definitive for accounting purposes, but it represents historical positions rather than current economic exposure.

Investment Book of Record (IBOR)

The Investment Book of Record represents the economic reality of a portfolio at a specific point in time. It incorporates unsettled trades and open orders and values positions at current market prices, thus providing an intraday view of exposures while trading activity is ongoing. This allows front- and middle-office teams to base decisions on what is actually held during the trading day.

Performance Book of Record (PBOR)

The Performance Book of Record builds on IBOR data by enriching positions with performance attribution, risk analytics, and adjusted reference data. It enables multi-dimensional analysis of returns and risk drivers, which supports both internal performance evaluation and external client reporting.

In practical terms, ABOR records what has settled, IBOR reflects what is currently held, and PBOR explains how portfolio outcomes were generated.

Why Do Investment Firms Need an IBOR?

End-of-day accuracy alone is no longer sufficient to support active portfolio management.

As markets move faster and trading activity becomes more complex, firms are increasingly judged by how well they understand their positions during the trading day. Yet in many organisations, position data remains fragmented across front- and middle-office systems, with portfolio management, order management, execution, and risk platforms each maintaining their own view based on different timings or valuations.

When positions do not align across systems, the consequence is inefficiency and uncertainty. Teams slow down, manual reconciliation increases, and decisions are delayed while numbers are checked, rechecked, and explained. Access to current exposures becomes constrained precisely when timing matters most.

An Investment Book of Record has therefore stepped up from a supporting system to a strategic capability. Firms now compete on how clearly they can see current positions, how quickly they can assess exposures, and how confidently they can make decisions while markets are still moving.

Beyond decision-making, increasing regulatory compliance demands add further pressure. Firms must demonstrate consistent control over position data, including pre- and post-trade checks that are applied uniformly across the business. A recognised investment book of record supports this by making position data easier to explain, reconcile, and defend.

In this context, the value of an IBOR lies less in technology and more in trust. When teams share a consistent view of current positions, they spend less time resolving discrepancies and more time managing risk, executing strategy, and responding to the market.

How Does an Investment Book of Record Work?

An Investment Book of Record does not replace existing trading or accounting platforms. Its role is to aggregate their inputs and maintain a consistent, intraday view of positions as trading activity occurs.

When a trade is executed, details flow into the IBOR from trading and order management systems. These are combined with existing holdings, cash movements, and current market prices, allowing positions to be updated immediately to reflect economic impact rather than waiting for settlement. The updated position view is then distributed to systems that depend on timely information, including risk, compliance, and reporting platforms.

To support this process, an IBOR typically includes:

• An integration layer connecting trading systems, custodians, and pricing sources
  
  
• A position engine that recalculates positions in real time based on trades, holdings, and cash movements
  
  
• Validation rules to ensure incoming data is complete and consistent
  
  
• A distribution layer that feeds updated positions to downstream systems

In practice, this means that when a trade is executed, the IBOR recalculates the firm’s position and cash impact immediately. Portfolio managers see updated exposure and available capacity during the trading day, while risk systems receive the same data for live compliance checks. The position remains open within the IBOR until final settlement, even as accounting systems wait for transactions to formally settle.

Essential Features of an Effective IBOR

For an IBOR to function as a reliable reference point during the trading day, it must support a set of core operational capabilities focused on accuracy, timeliness, and consistency.

• Real-time or intra-day processing
  Positions must update as events occur, with sub-minute refresh cycles that support intraday decision-making.
  
  
• Multi-asset support
  An IBOR should handle equities, fixed income, derivatives, FX, and alternative assets consistently, accommodating different settlement conventions and valuation approaches.
  
  
• Flexible position views
  Different users require different perspectives. An effective IBOR supports trade-date and settlement-date views, multiple accounting treatments, and position definitions aligned with how exposure is managed.
  
  
• Comprehensive data model
  Position accuracy depends on more than trades alone. Security reference data, corporate actions, cash balances, and accruals must be incorporated to avoid incomplete views.
  
  
• System integration capabilities
  An IBOR must integrate cleanly with upstream and downstream systems through APIs, multiple data formats, and bi-directional data flows.
  
  
• Audit trail and data lineage
  Position data must be fully traceable. Complete transaction histories and change tracking support reconciliation, governance, and regulatory review.

Implementing an IBOR: What to Consider

An IBOR only adds value when it is clearly defined.

Firms must determine how positions are sourced, how frequently they are updated, and how conflicts between systems are resolved. Only then can fragmented position data be converted into a consistent and usable view during the trading day.

Define Your Requirements:

You should have clarity on purpose early. This includes which investment and risk decisions depend on it, which systems must feed into it, and which user groups rely on its outputs. It is also critical to define where real-time or intra-day views are required and where batch-based processes remain acceptable.

Common Challenges:

The most persistent hurdle is data quality and standardization.

Integration across portfolio, order, execution, and risk platforms can be complex, particularly where definitions and timings differ. Defining position calculation rules is another common point of friction, as teams may hold different views on what constitutes the “correct” position at a given moment.

Success Factors:

A successful rollout follows a phased implementation.

Migrating one asset class at a time allows you to focus on priority use cases first, while training and change management ensure teams understand how to rely on the IBOR in day-to-day operations.

This must be supported by strong governance to own the data standards while strong data quality standards reduce ongoing remediation.

The Evolution of IBOR in Asset Management

The role of the IBOR is shifting from a static record to the operational heart of the modern firm that synchronizes the entire trading ecosystem in real-time.

Modern IBOR implementations are increasingly cloud-based and API-driven. This allows firms to scale more easily, integrate with a wider range of trading and risk systems, and support real-time liquidity management and exposure without adding operational friction.

Over time, IBORs are becoming more tightly embedded in front-to-back workflows. Improved data flow between trading, risk, operations, and accounting reduces manual intervention and shifts processing toward exceptions rather than routine reconciliation. As position data becomes more reliable, firms can also support better forecasting, oversight, and control.

Next-generation IBORs are moving toward exception-based processing. As front-to-back data flows improve, routine position updates are handled automatically, which reduces manual intervention and leaves teams to focus only on true exceptions. Automated triggers flag issues that require attention, rather than forcing constant reconciliation. With more reliable and timely position data, firms also gain stronger forecasting capabilities, along with greater transparency and oversight across trading, risk, operations, and accounting.

The industry is moving toward a future where the IBOR is becoming a central integration layer within the trading ecosystem, supporting greater automation across the middle office and providing more timely, usable data for investment decisions. As this shift continues, the importance of a trusted, well-governed IBOR only increases.

Investment Book of Record: Final Thoughts

So, does the buy side need another Book of Record?

For firms whose decisions are driven by intraday trading activity, real-time risk exposure, and increasing regulatory scrutiny, the answer is yes. An Investment Book of Record has become a prerequisite for competing in a high-velocity market where timing, accuracy, and confidence matter.

While an ABOR documents what has settled, an IBOR defines what is happening now. By providing a consolidated, real-time view of positions, it allows firms to move beyond reconciliation and toward execution, risk control, and informed decision-making during the trading day.

As a central hub within the modern technology stack, the IBOR reduces operational friction and improves decision speed. Eliminating the reconciliation tax and establishing a single version of reality enables firms to stop managing data silos and start managing market opportunities.

Ultimately, the decision to implement an IBOR is a decision about readiness. Firms with the clearest view of their positions don’t just respond to market volatility, but poise themselves to use that volatility to their advantage.