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Guide

The quarterly LP report: what goes in it, when it is due, and what the ILPA templates change

Checked against our editorial standards4 min read

Before you start

Pull three documents before you build anything: the LPA section on reporting, every side letter, and the last package your administrator or predecessor sent. The LPA gives you the deadline and the minimum contents. Side letters add reporting an anchor LP negotiated, which is easy to forget and expensive to miss. The last package tells you what LPs are used to, and the fastest way to annoy an LP is to change the layout without saying why.

Then write the calendar down. Quarter end, administrator close, draft to you, review, delivery. If you have an outside administrator, their close is the long pole; ask them for the date in writing.

What goes in the package

  1. Capital account statement, one per LP. Opening balance, contributions, allocated income, gains and losses, management fees, distributions, closing balance, plus unfunded commitment. This is the page every LP reads. It must reconcile to the fund's bank and to the previous quarter's closing balance.
  2. Fund financial statements. Unaudited balance sheet, statement of operations and statement of changes in partners' capital for the quarter. Audited at year end.
  3. Performance summary. DPI, TVPI and net IRR since inception, gross and net where your LPA requires both, with the same figures for the prior quarter so the movement is visible.
  4. Schedule of investments. Each position with cost, fair value, ownership, and the valuation method. Material changes get a sentence.
  5. Notices issued in the quarter. Capital call and distribution notices, in the ILPA Capital Call and Distribution Template format if your fund started on or after Q1 2026.
  6. Narrative. Two pages, not ten. What happened, what you expect, anything an LP would be unhappy to learn later from someone else.
  7. ILPA Reporting Template, if your LPA or side letters require it or your LPs are institutional. See below.

Deadlines that actually apply

ILPA's framework sets the ceiling most LPAs are drafted around: for direct funds, 60 days after each of the first three quarter ends and 120 days after fiscal year end; for funds of funds, 120 and 180 days. Your LPA may be tighter, and institutional side letters often say 45 days for quarterly reports. The year-end package is slower because it carries the audit, and the SEC's custody rule drives the 120-day figure for audited financials.

Miss a deadline once and say so in advance, with a date. Miss it silently and it goes in the LP's notes about you.

The ILPA templates, in practice

ILPA released two templates in January 2025 and a third in September.

Reporting Template v2.0 replaces the 2016 version. It breaks out fees, expenses and carried interest, including internal chargebacks to the GP and related persons, aligned to how a general ledger records them. It covers quarter to date, year to date and inception to date. It applies to closed-end funds still in their investment period during Q1 2026, and to funds that start on or after January 1, 2026. A fund that was already out of its investment period on January 1, 2026 may keep the 2016 template. ILPA says to start new funds on the first full quarter after operations begin, or within 18 months of the initial close, whichever comes first.

Performance Template is new. It captures cash flows and transaction types and standardises IRR and TVPI, gross and net, in two methodologies: granular, for GPs who itemise capital calls, and gross-up, for GPs who do not. It applies only to funds starting on or after January 1, 2026, and the first delivery is after four full quarters, so the earliest first delivery is for the quarter ending March 31, 2027.

Capital Call and Distribution Template v2.0, from September 2025, replaces the 2011 notice format and is meant to be used with the Performance Template for funds starting from Q1 2026.

Two practical points. ILPA recommends Excel or another digital format and says PDF is not recommended, because LPs load these into their own systems. And the templates supplement the quarterly report; they do not replace the capital account statement or the notices.

What goes wrong

  • The statement does not reconcile. A capital account that drifts from the bank or from last quarter's closing balance is the first thing an auditor and the first thing a sophisticated LP will catch.
  • Side letter reporting gets missed. Keep a one-page register of every extra deliverable by LP and check it before each release.
  • The narrative is written for the GP, not the LP. The LP wants to know what changed and what you intend to do about it. Marketing language is a red flag to them.
  • Performance is presented inconsistently. Pick gross or net, state it, and use the same definitions every quarter. If you adopt the Performance Template, that choice is made for you.
  • PDF-only delivery. Institutional LPs re-key PDFs by hand. A portal with downloadable Excel beats a beautiful PDF attachment.

Frequently asked questions

When is a quarterly LP report due?
Whatever the LPA says. ILPA's general framework for direct funds is 60 days after each of the first three quarters and 120 days after fiscal year end, because the year-end package is audited. Funds of funds get 120 and 180 days. Many institutional LPs negotiate 45 days for quarterly reports, so check your side letters as well as the LPA.
Is the ILPA Reporting Template mandatory?
No. It is an industry standard, not a regulation. It becomes mandatory for you only if your LPA or a side letter requires it, which institutional LPs increasingly do. Version 2.0 applies to funds in their investment period during Q1 2026 and to funds that start on or after January 1, 2026. Funds already out of their investment period may keep using the 2016 version.
What is the difference between the ILPA Reporting Template and the Performance Template?
The Reporting Template covers fees, expenses and carried interest, quarter to date, year to date and inception to date. The Performance Template, new in 2025, standardises how you calculate and present IRR and multiples from cash flows. The Performance Template applies only to funds starting on or after January 1, 2026, with first delivery four full quarters after the fund begins operating.
Should I send the report as a PDF?
Send the narrative as a PDF if you like, but ILPA explicitly recommends against PDF for the templates. Deliver the templates in Excel or another machine-readable format through your portal. LPs feed them into their own systems.
What do LPs actually open?
The capital account statement first, the performance summary second, the narrative third. Put the three numbers an LP checks, their capital account balance, DPI and net IRR, on the first page of the package and in the portal dashboard. Bury nothing a reasonable LP would need to call you about.

Sources

  1. ILPA Reporting Template v2.0 suggested guidance (PDF)ilpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ILPA-Reporting-Template-v.-2.0-Suggested-Guidance.pdf
  2. ILPA Performance Template guidance, granular methodology (PDF)ilpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ILPA-Performance-Template-Suggested-Guidance-Granular-Methodology.pdf
  3. ILPA Capital Call and Distribution Template guidance, September 2025 (PDF)ilpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ILPA-Suggested-Guidance-2025-Final.pdf
  4. ILPA release announcing the updated templates, January 2025ilpa.org/news/ilpa-releases-updated-reporting-template-and-new-performance-template-for-industry-adoption/

Terms used in this article

  • Capital account A capital account is the running balance of a single partner's economic interest in a fund: contributions in, allocations of income, gains and losses, less distributions out.
  • DPI (distributions to paid-in capital) DPI, distributions to paid-in capital, is the total cash and stock distributed to limited partners divided by the total capital they have contributed.
  • TVPI (total value to paid-in capital) TVPI, total value to paid-in capital, is the sum of distributions to limited partners and the current net asset value of the fund, divided by the capital LPs have contributed.
  • Carried interest Carried interest is the general partner's share of a fund's profits, typically 20%, paid through the distribution waterfall only after limited partners have received their contributed capital and, usually, a preferred return.
  • Management fee The management fee is an annual charge paid by the fund to the management company, typically 2% of committed capital during the investment period, often stepping down afterwards to a lower rate or a basis of invested capital, to cover salaries, rent and the cost of running the firm.
  • LP portal (investor portal) An LP portal, or investor portal, is the secure website where a fund's limited partners log in to view their capital account statements, capital call and distribution notices, quarterly reports, tax documents and fund legal documents, replacing email and PDF distribution.
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