Customer Reviews

Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence: Understanding the Risks (Wiley Finance)

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Good solid book. The author began this book by essentially stating that this is a subject that has been ignored for way too long. After reading this very instructive work I couldn't agree more - operational due diligence is a very important part of hedge fund investing, and this book was a great guide. I liked this book for several reasons, the biggest one being that it does not merely describe just a checklist or outline a due diligence questionnaire for hedge funds due diligence. The operational due diligence techniques described seemed to be practical and actually something people could implement. I also liked the historical perspective gave me a good context for everything I was reading too. I enjoyed the examples too. A lot of interesting points and was thought provoking for me.

I first picked up this book because I was looking for a good easy to follow hedge fund resource. I am an auditor and was interested in learning more about hedge funds in general and specifically the accounting/back office side of things. This book gave a nice over view of both.

It wasn't overly technical with useless jargon and I found the example scenarios outlined in the book to be straight forward and easy to understand. Overall good read which outlined audit tools with real world applications. I would recommend this book to accounting students, CPAs, or anyone who wants to learn more about hedge funds. Enjoy !

I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about the due diligence process with all the hedge fund frauds like Madoff in the news. After reading this book it seems clear to me that if people actually listened to experts like Scharfman many people could have avoided losing a lot of money to people like Madoff.

I really liked the author's frank no-nonsense approach to due diligence. I feel like the writer really understands the ins-and-out of the process and breaks it down into simple terms. To me that's what made this a good read. The topic itself is a bit on the technical side, but after reading this book its clear to me that this is a very important part of hedge fund investing that has been neglected for too long.

The book begins by explaining what operational due diligence is and then lays out his approach to what factors should be covered. I found the section in the first Chapter on the history of operational due diligence very informative and give me a good perspective on the subject. The author goes on to make an argument why operational due diligence is important (as if he needed to in light of the news lately!), provide example case studies and outline the importance of on-going monitoring.

I especially enjoyed Chapter 5 "Evaluating the Gray Areas: Examples" which provides hypothetical scenarios an investor might come up against in doing these reviews. Each scenario was well written and easy to follow.

So to sum up, I would highly recommend this book to anyone thinking about investing in a hedge fund or just wanting to learn more about how to conduct proper due diligence. Happy reading!

I found this book to be an excellent overview of this subject. While primarily focused on operational due diligence, I would recommend it as a general primer on hedge funds and investing in general. This well written guide is easy to digest and I feel would be appropriate for both relatively new hedge fund investors and "old pros." I found the most interesting part of the book to be the examples outlined in the Gray Areas chapter. After taking time to understand the due diligence framework outlined by the author and going through these examples I feel I could intelligently approach a hedge fund on my own and conduct a basic due diligence review - which was exactly what I was looking for out of this text. Should be required reading for all hedge fund professionals -period.

A colleague recommended this book and I was not at all disappointed - overall great, timely book.
This book provided a very good overview of the subject of hedge fund operational due diligence. Unlike most of the other hedge fund books I have read which drone on for hundreds of pages about nothing, this book was very clear and easy to follow. The author spells out in detail how to perform an operational due diligence review and points out some of the pitfalls to watch out for along the way.
I thought the chapter on combining the results of an operational review into the asset allocation process was quite interesting. I also like the last chapter on trends in the industry which I thought hit the nail on the head. This is a very interesting and layered topic and this book made me rethink about my approach to investing and due diligence in a good way. Wish I read something like this years ago.

I enjoyed this book because the author takes a somewhat dry complex subject and actually makes it very interesting and user-friendly. Having worked at a hedge fund on the investment side, I found it very interesting to learn about all these non-investment related risks. I particularly enjoyed the chapter with the examples which helped me put the due diligence techniques described in the book together. I also thought the chapter on operational trends was insightful.

Operational risk is certainly topical and I would recommend this easy to read guide for both beginners and experts. I also think that hedge fund service providers could learn a thing or two about working better with hedge funds if they had a good understanding of the risks outlined in this book.

Overall great book - definitely should be required reading for hedge fund professional, service providers and investors.

This is a groundbreaking work that will change the way people think about due diligence. The author introduces a number of new approaches and techniques for due diligence which seem to be light years ahead of what anyone in the fund of funds community market has been doing, is currently doing or claims to have been doing but wasn't (aka had Madoff exposure).

In addition to recommending this to anyone who even thinks about investing in hedge funds I would also highly recommend this to anyone who works at a fund of hedge funds, a hedge fund or who works in firm's supporting hedge funds (lawyer, administrators, IT providers etc.).

Really this is a must read for anyone involved in the finance industry... not just hedge funds. In a day and age where safety in money and security in investments is fading, the author outlines the steps that are necessary to securely investigate potential investments and protect your funds. I praise him for creating a textbook for the future money managers of the world. I encourage every teacher, manager or other professional in the money markets to read this, read it again and put his advice to work. I agree with the other reviewers, this book came years too late but better late than never!