Investment Book of Record (IBOR)

The IBOR is the front- and middle-office view of the portfolio. It updates intraday as trades are executed, reflecting positions and projected cash on a trade-date basis so portfolio managers and traders know exactly what they own and can spend. It typically feeds order management, compliance, risk and performance systems.

The IBOR differs from the ABOR, the accounting book of record, in timing and purpose. ABOR is struck at defined valuation points with accounting-grade accruals and pricing; IBOR prioritizes timeliness. The two should agree once both are brought to the same point in time, and regular reconciliation between them is a key control.

Pitfalls include multiple competing IBORs across desks, weak security master data that causes positions to be mapped to the wrong instrument, and corporate actions processed in ABOR but not reflected in IBOR. A well-designed IBOR has a single, governed data model and clear ownership of each data element.