CornerCap Ousts Fund-accounting Provider

CornerCap Investment Counsel, an Atlanta-based investment manager servicing private clients, institutions, foundations, and endowments, recently implemented Global Investment Systems' MFACT to provide mutual-fund accounting and administration for its CornerCap Group of Funds. The solution replaces Atlanta-based Phoenix Systems Inc.'s fund-accounting technology solution, which CornerCap had been using for over five years.

"We wanted something that worked better and had more functionality," explains Karen Quinn, transfer agency director of CornerCap. "With MFACT, we can see our data more clearly and do more with it. It has better printed daily reports that are easy to read, so we can more accurately track what is happening with our funds."

Quinn says that CornerCap uses MFACT to streamline its mutual-fund accounting, as well as compute a net-asset value for its funds. With its ease of operation and reputation of accuracy, she says that MFACT has increased her own technical confidence, as well as the confidence of investors, in CornerCap's funds.

"I'm more secure with the integrity of our data for my own protection, but I think it is really important for our shareholders," Quinn explains. "If the NAV is incorrect, and we have to recalculate and give them another check, it might be a few extra dollars coming to them, but investors see that as a mistake. Being able to look like we're doing a clean job is important because there are a lot of options out there."

Quinn also noted the price point as a pivotal factor when selecting the GIS technology. She says that CornerCap had been interested in updating its fund-accounting system for some time, but didn't believe that there were any viable solutions that were affordable.

However, as the end of Phoenix's contract approached, she says she explored MFACT and found that it was comparable to CornerCap's present solution in its licensing price, and might even prove to be less expensive for the firm based on its expanded functionality. She says that Phoenix charged the firm each time it expanded functionality and had to add a new module for added utility, such as historical reports, while GIS's initial charge includes any additional modules that may become necessary.

A spokesperson for Phoenix says that, while the vendor regrets losing CornerCap as a client, there were no system issues that it was aware of. In addition, the spokesperson says that Phoenix's price model of charging by module is intended to keep the expenses low for those clients that don't need every available feature.

While GIS also offers MSHARE, a transfer agency and shareholder record-keeping system, Quinn says that CornerCap has no current plans of adopting it, and is satisfied with its current technology solution from Envision Financial Systems.