Two ways to understand pressing issues in the PE industry are to follow the money and review requests by investors. Among other results, those point to a massive flow of funds to ESG-focused strategies which appears to have, in turn, prompted increased SEC scrutiny, as well as a steady uptick in fund managers pursuing compliance with the CFA Institute’s Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS^®) in response to investor demands. Those and other topics were covered in a recent panel at ACA Group’s (ACA’s) Fall 2021 Virtual Conference that was moderated by Christie Dillard, partner in the performance division at ACA, and featured John D. Molesphini, global head of insights at Nasdaq – eVestment; Steven W. Stone, partner at Morgan Lewis; and Shivani Choudhary, managing director at ACA. This first article in a two-part series details recent trends and efforts in the performance space, including asset flows and demand for compliance with GIPS from outsourced chief investment officers. The second article will address key considerations for fund managers preparing to comply with FINRA regulation notice 20‑21 concerning GIPS-compliant internal rate of return calculations and the SEC’s new marketing rule. For additional commentary from Molesphini, see “Is GIPS Compliance and Verification Thereof a De Facto Requirement for Access by Fund Managers to Institutional Assets?” (Aug. 1, 2014); and from Stone, see “MiFID II May Have Significant Ramifications on Research Payments Involving U.S. Managers With Cross-Border Operations” (Jul. 27, 2017).