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What goes in an LP report?

A strong LP report pairs clean numbers with a candid, plain-language read of what is actually happening in the portfolio. Done well it builds trust quarter after quarter, and it is one of the main ways a fund earns its next commitment.

The two halves of a good report

Every strong LP report does two things at once. It states the numbers, the fund's value, its performance, and each LP's own capital account, and it explains them in plain language. Numbers without the narrative leave an LP guessing why a mark moved, while narrative without the numbers reads like a pitch. Pairing the two is what makes a report credible, because the figures show where the fund stands and the words explain how it got there and where it is going.

What to include

The numbers LPs expect

LPs read a lot of reports, so they look for the standard measures in a familiar place. That means the fund's NAV, the performance metrics IRR, TVPI, DPI, and MOIC, and their own capital account showing what they committed, funded, and have been distributed. The trick is to present these so an LP can tie the metrics back to the cash that moved during the period, rather than having to reconstruct the arithmetic themselves, and when the numbers reconcile cleanly an LP tends to trust everything around them. The capital account statements are typically prepared by the fund administrator and reviewed by the GP before anything goes out. We explain the metrics themselves in fund performance metrics explained, and the value behind them in how fund NAV is calculated.

The narrative LPs actually read

The commentary is where a GP either builds trust or erodes it. What LPs value is candor rather than spin, meaning a straight account of what worked, what did not, and what the GP is focused on next. Naming a markdown and explaining it does more for credibility than burying it, because LPs almost always find out anyway. A short, honest narrative that treats LPs as partners is worth more than a polished one that treats them as an audience to be managed. Thin or evasive reporting has a real cost too: it tends to resurface as extra diligence questions when the next fund is raising.

Where portfolio history is scattered across updates, email, and files, a Central AI Memory Layer can give the reporting team a governed way to retrieve supporting context. The fund’s books remain the source for the numbers, and the GP remains responsible for the narrative.

How often, and how it ties to the audit

Most funds report quarterly, with a fuller package at year end that ties to the audited financial statements. The cadence is not just convention: what the fund owes its LPs, and when, is typically written into the LPA, and sometimes tightened further in a side letter. Quarterly reports are usually unaudited, but they should still be built on closed books and a consistent valuation policy, so the year-end audit confirms the numbers rather than restating them. Many GPs also send a brief note between quarters when something material happens, so LPs are never surprised by news that only surfaces in the next scheduled report.

LP reporting in practice

At Graph Advisors we treat the LP report as a product in its own right rather than an afterthought. The numbers reconcile to the books and the capital accounts, the metrics tie to the cash that actually moved, and the commentary is written to be read by a busy LP rather than to impress one. Alongside our clients, we have produced these reports inside funds and fielded the questions they generate, and the pattern we have seen is that the reports that prevent follow-up questions are the ones where the numbers are correct and the narrative is honest. A clean report depends on a closed set of books, which is the same foundation behind the year-end audit.

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