Private Funds CFO’s exclusive survey of CFOs
Download our annual survey of CFOs, with topics ranging from fundraising and AI to outsourcing and due diligence, and find out what the industry’s leaders really think about the market right now. Conducted in partnership with Aztec Group.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE INSIGHTS SURVEY
Insights Survey 2026: Seven key findings
The Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2026 shines a spotlight on the complex issues preoccupying CFOs.
FURTHER COVERAGE
METHODOLOGY
How we conducted the Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2026
PEI Group’s research and analytics team surveyed 100 private fund finance leaders during July and September 2025.
We wanted to know, directly from the people doing the job, how the roles and responsibilities of the chief financial officer are changing while the private markets industry experiences rapid growth and change.
We targeted CFOs, but if they were unavailable, we asked for responses from other professionals, including COOs and controllers, provided they were aware of their firms’ practices.
Emails were sent to the most appropriate professionals at all the leading private fund management firms. We asked respondents to fill out a short questionnaire, the results of which were collated and analyzed by PEI Group’s research analysts.
The survey is entirely confidential. No names of the individuals or firms that responded are revealed. While the emphasis is on private equity, firms managing real estate, debt and infrastructure funds have also been included.
Many of the challenges facing private equity firms are just as relevant to managers of other closed-end alternative asset class funds. The survey reflects the full perspective of the global private fund management community.
PREVIOUS SURVEYS
The increasing speed at which the global markets have changed over the past few years has forced many CFOs to take a more proactive approach to their firm’s development.
Private Funds CFO’s Insights Survey 2025, conducted in partnership with RSM, portrays the extent to which CFOs have been pivoting to position their firms for future success as and when the macroeconomic environment improves.
Read the full report to discover CFOs’ latest thinking on the industry’s biggest issues.
Insights Survey 2025: Seven key findings
The Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2025 reveals the breadth of challenges and opportunities that CFOs are currently grappling with.
Roundtable: The strategic CFO
Today’s private markets CFO sits at the epicenter of their business, driving strategic direction while ensuring that scalable infrastructure is in place to deliver sustainable growth.
RSM on creating operating models that are built to last
Designing a scalable and sustainable operating model doesn’t have to be a binary decision between insourcing and outsourcing, say RSM’s William Andreoni, Christa Clark and Troy Merkel.
Insights 2025: Belief in fundraising is defiantly optimistic
Many CFOs remain confident that they can raise more than ever, despite the grueling conditions that have characterized fundraising over the past year.
Insights 2025: Outsourcing’s popularity grows
Outsourcing models continue to gain traction, but M&A in the administration space is creating concerns around service levels.
Insights 2025: LPs are putting the back office under the microscope
LPs are increasingly scrutinizing back-office functions as part of their investor due diligence.
Insights 2025: CFOs adopt wait-and-see approach to AI
Nearly half of the respondents to this year's Insights survey stated they are yet to see practical use cases.
Insights 2025: Fund finance landscape normalizes
Supply has returned to the fund finance world, but facilities are undeniably more expensive.
Insights 2025: Navigating the SEC’s Marketing Rule
The presentation of gross and net performance figures for unrealized portfolio companies continues to cause consternation.
Private fund CFOs are facing a wave of challenges heading into 2024. Fundraising activity levels have been hit by liquidity pressures and the denominator effect, while the fund finance market is facing a shake-up in the US. These factors, combined with increasing regulatory pressures, mean LPs are scrutinizing their managers’ internal processes more than ever. But Private Funds CFO’s Insights Survey 2024, conducted in partnership with Aztec Group, finds that CFOs are tackling such challenges with a healthy degree of optimism as many expect growth over the coming year.
Insights Survey 2024: Seven key findings
The Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2024 paints a picture of optimism against an otherwise uncertain macroeconomic background
Roundtable: The many hats of the modern CFO
Few areas of operational strategy fall outside the responsibility of today’s private markets CFO. Five industry leaders discuss how they are navigating a challenging macroeconomic environment while managing their in-house operations
Aztec Group: Outsourcing’s perfect storm
Regulation, LP attitudes and technological changes are all driving a move towards increased outsourcing, says Aztec Group’s head of US markets Ore Adegbotolu.
Insights 2024: Fundraising hits hard times
Firms are extending timelines and moderating targets as they navigate a difficult fundraising environment.
Insights 2024: LPs dig deeper on due diligence
Questions around back-office functions are intensifying as LPs double down on compliance and reporting.
Insights 2024: New SEC rules cause confusion
Frustration is building among CFOs as they attempt to navigate the new marketing rules with limited guidance from the SEC.
Insights 2024: The advantages of administrative outsourcing
Regulatory complexity and LP demands keep the trend towards outsourcing continuing unabated.
Insights 2024: The advent of AI
CFOs are exploring how artificial intelligence could transform their asset classes
Insights 2024: Rebuilding banking relationships
CFOs navigate a fund finance market in flux in the wake of the regional banking crisis
Insights 2024: Methodology
How we conducted the Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2024
Private markets are more buoyant than ever. Fund sizes continue to grow as opportunities for value creation abound. That’s good news, but it’s also true that larger funds come with a larger regulatory requirement and greater exposure to investor scrutiny. Respondents to the 2022 Private Funds CFO Insights Survey, conducted in partnership with TMF Group, said that coping with increased investor requests is now the most challenging aspect of raising a larger fund.
Read the full report to learn more about why CFOs are saying that the private markets are in the midst of a back office boom.
The Private Funds CFO Insights Survey drills down into the challenges facing chief financial officers and their counterparts at US private funds. This year’s findings shine a light on how firms are adapting to covid-19 and the trends that have been accelerated by the pandemic, from digitalization to LP scrutiny of back office functions.
The annual Private Funds CFO Insights Survey is a chance to take the pulse of one of the most vibrant positions in private equity. The CFO’s role has changed beyond all recognition over the last decade – something reflected in this year’s survey, where it is clear that the modern day finance chief has a huge amount of challenges on his or her plate. Funds are getting bigger — 65 percent of CFOs expect the next vehicle to be larger — which means more LPs and additional due diligence questions.
Click here to access Private Funds CFO’s in-depth special reports covering a wide array of topics, plus our digital magazines.
