In early 2025, the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) released an updated ILPA Reporting Template (v2.0) alongside a new Performance Template. Together, these updates represent one of the most meaningful efforts in recent years to standardize how private equity funds present cash flows, key performance indicators (‘KPIs’), and economic outcomes to Limited Partners (‘LP’).
While adoption of these templates is voluntary, LP expectations are already shifting. For many funds, ILPA-aligned reporting is quickly becoming the baseline for credibility, comparability, and transparency, particularly in diligence and fundraising contexts.
Historically, private equity reporting has allowed for a wide range of interpretation. Cash flows might be classified differently across firms. Performance metrics could vary depending on calculation methods, assumptions, or how subscription facilities and fees were treated. Even when numbers were technically correct, comparability was often limited.
The updated ILPA templates aim to address this by replacing free-form reporting with a structured standardized format that reduces ambiguity while still accommodating different operating models.
The updated ILPA Reporting Template focuses on consistent cash-flow classification and disclosure. The Performance Template introduces a standardized approach to presenting returns, without forcing firms into methodologies their data cannot support.
One of the most important, and sometimes misunderstood, aspects of ILPA’s new Performance Template is that it does not require multiple performance presentations. Instead, ILPA provides a single performance framework with a decision tree that determines which version of the template a fund should use.
The decision hinges on two questions:
Based on the answers, a fund selects one standardized template.
Funds use the Gross-Up Template when:
In these cases, ILPA allows gross performance to be derived by grossing up net fund-to-investor cash flows using a standardized methodology. While this approach involves estimation, it ensures consistency and comparability across managers with similar operating models.
For many funds, this will be the appropriate, and expected, choice.
The Granular Template is used only when:
When these conditions are met, gross performance can be calculated directly rather than estimated, resulting in a more precise and transparent presentation.
Importantly, this template is optional, not required. ILPA intentionally avoids forcing granularity where underlying data does not support it.
While adoption of ILPA’s templates is voluntary, expected timelines are now coming into focus. The updated ILPA Reporting Template is intended to be used beginning with Q1 2026 reporting, based on Q1 2026 data.
The new Performance Template follows on a longer runway, with ILPA signaling adoption beginning in Q1 2027, after four full quarters of reporting. This expectation applies primarily to funds that are still in their investment period, including funds launched prior to Q1 2026 that continue to accept investments, as well as newer funds active during that period.
In practice, this creates a clear planning window. Firms that wait until these expectations surface in diligence or LP reviews often find themselves addressing structural reporting questions under time pressure, rather than on a controlled timeline.
For many organizations, the most immediate question is not whether to adopt ILPA’s templates, but when their current reporting processes will be tested against these expectations.
The Performance Template is not about producing more reports, it’s about producing the right report, in a way LPs can understand and compare across managers.
For funds and administrators, this often requires:
Firms that address these questions proactively are finding that ILPA alignment reduces LP follow-ups, shortens diligence cycles, and strengthens investor confidence.
Some organizations will approach ILPA’s templates as a compliance exercise. Others will treat them as an opportunity to build repeatable, defensible reporting capabilities that scale with investor expectations.
The most effective transitions start by focusing on fundamentals: cash-flow structure, performance calculation logic, and clear decision-making around which template applies. From there, standardization becomes far more manageable, and far less disruptive.
As LPs continue to push for transparency and comparability, ILPA-aligned reporting is becoming less of a differentiator and more of an expectation. Firms that invest in getting this right now will be better positioned for both upcoming reporting cycles and future fundraising efforts.
If you’re unsure which ILPA performance template applies to your fund, or whether your current data supports that choice, that’s often the right time to partner with our subject matter experts.
Danny Levine
Senior Manager, Business Advisory Solutions Capital Markets, Transactions, and Private Equity Practice Leader
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannylevine/
Jeff Issa
Principal, Business Advisory Solutions
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffissa/