Private equity:
keeping track of calls and commitments.

How private equity funds call capital, why open commitments belong in liquidity planning, what key figures such as TVPI and IRR show and what software should be able to do for this.

By Dr. Jürgen Lange, Managing Director of JSLM Products & Services GmbH

Anyone who invests in a closed-end private equity fund usually does not pay in all at once: they commit an amount, and the fund calls the money in instalments over several years, each with a payment deadline. Software for private equity investments should therefore record the commitment, capital calls, distributions and valuations for each fund, show the open (uncalled) commitments and calculate whether liquidity is sufficient for the expected calls.

Anyone holding several funds, privately or through their own companies, receives calls, distributions and reports from each fund separately. This guide gives a general overview (as of October 2026) and is not investment advice.

How a fund calls capital

With the capital commitment, or commitment for short, the investor undertakes to pay in capital up to a fixed amount when called. The fund typically calls this money in instalments during the first years of its term, when it needs it for investments, costs and management fees. When and how much it calls is usually decided by the fund manager within the terms of the fund agreement. If the fund later sells investments or is wound up at the end of its term, money flows back as a distribution.

How much time lies between the call notice and the payment is set out in the fund agreement. The model agreement of ILPA, the international association of institutional fund investors, provides for at least ten business days. It also allows calls after the investment period, for example for costs and follow-on investments. According to the association, the capital is usually tied up for more than ten years.

Open commitments belong in liquidity planning

The open commitment is the part of the commitment that the investor has not yet paid in. To the extent that the fund agreement permits the call, the investor must pay it when called. According to the European Central Bank, it is rare for an investor not to meet a call, but it has serious consequences, such as a smaller stake or exclusion from the fund.

Because the fund decides the timing and amount of the calls, liquidity for future calls has to be planned. This becomes difficult above all in a downturn, when the distributions that investors would otherwise use to pay new calls fall, and even more so when they have to sell liquid securities at a significant discount to do so. The association recommends that funds give their investors quarterly projections of calls and distributions. Anyone holding several funds needs the total of open commitments across all funds and companies.

Valuation and key figures

ILPA recommends that funds report quarterly, no later than 60 days after the end of the quarter and 120 days after the end of the financial year, with funds of funds later. For closed-end funds under German law, the German Investment Code (KAGB) generally requires at least one valuation a year (§§ 272, 286 KAGB). The net asset value (NAV) in your overview therefore always refers to a past reference date. The usual key figures are derived from the cash flows and the NAV:

Key figure	Calculation	What it shows
Paid-in capital	sum of the calls paid	how much of the commitment has already been paid in
Open commitment (unfunded)	committed but not yet paid in	what the fund can still call
DPI	distributions divided by paid-in capital	how much has already flowed back
RVPI	value of the remaining investments divided by paid-in capital	how much is still in the fund
TVPI	distributions plus residual value, divided by paid-in capital	the multiple of paid-in capital, the sum of DPI and RVPI
IRR	interest rate at which the present value of all cash flows, with the residual value as the terminal value, equals zero	the annual return, depending on the timing of the cash flows

An example: you have committed €1 million, of which €600,000 has been called and paid. The fund has distributed €200,000 to you, and your share of the NAV is €700,000. The open commitment is then €400,000, the DPI 0.33 (200,000 ÷ 600,000), the RVPI 1.17 (700,000 ÷ 600,000) and the TVPI 1.5 (900,000 ÷ 600,000). So of every euro paid in, 33 cents have flowed back, and overall your investment stands at 1.5 times the capital paid in.

The TVPI does not show how long that took. The IRR takes it into account. ILPA recommends that funds calculate their net IRR from the cash flows of all fee-paying investors, after all fees, expenses and carried interest. An IRR calculated from your own cash flows may differ from it.

The J-curve

If you plot a fund’s return over its term, the result is typically a J shape. The management fee and start-up costs are usually paid out of the first call without creating value of the same amount, which is why the return is negative at first. With the first sales of investments, it rises markedly. Only after about three to five years does the IRR give a useful indication of the final IRR, usually earlier for buyout funds than for early-stage and growth funds. In the first years, therefore, it says little about a fund’s success.

What to look for in software

Commitments: Does it show the open commitment per fund and across all funds and companies?
Deadlines: Does it remind you in good time before a call falls due?
Documents: Does it read call notices, distribution notices and fund reports, with a review step?
Payments: Does it recognise the transfer in the account and match it to the call?
Liquidity: Does it compare the expected calls with your account balances and credit lines, including in adverse scenarios?
Key figures: Does it calculate TVPI, DPI and IRR from your own cash flows and show the fund’s figures alongside them?
Overall picture: Do the funds appear alongside property, securities accounts and companies, converted into one reporting currency?

How Finaure keeps track of funds and commitments

In the Investments section, you record private equity funds alongside direct investments, with commitment, vintage year, fund manager and strategy. For each fund, you record capital calls, distributions and fees with date and due date. At the top of the page, you see the total value, the paid-in capital, the open calls with the next due date and the distributions, with funds in foreign currencies converted into your reporting currency.

SmartUpload reads call notices, distribution notices and fund reports. For the most important fields, Finaure shows how confident the AI is, you can correct any value displayed, and Finaure warns you if something does not add up, for example if a call together with the previous ones would exceed the commitment or the currency does not match the fund. Once a document is assigned to one of your funds, a call notice becomes an open call with due date and target account, and a fund report becomes the new NAV with the key figures as at the reference date.

When a call is 14 days from its due date, Finaure creates a task. If the call has not been marked as paid by the due date, another one follows. If a fund’s latest value is more than six months old, Finaure reminds you to update it. Each of these reminders can be switched off in the settings. When the payment appears in an account of the person or company that owns the fund, Finaure suggests the matching debit, based on amount, date, payee and the IBAN from the call notice. Once you confirm, the call counts as paid and the open commitment goes down. Finaure reconciles distributions with incoming payments in the same way.

SmartPortfolio estimates which calls and distributions can be expected over the next 12, 24 or 36 months, per quarter. The timing is based on simplified standard patterns for each asset class, such as buyout, venture capital or private debt, not on the funds’ own planning figures. Recorded calls replace the fund’s estimated value in the quarter concerned. You can test what happens if all open commitments are called within 12, 18 or 24 months, or if distributions turn out only half as high. Finaure compares this with your account balances and the credit lines on your accounts, minus a reserve you set yourself, and shows from which quarter a shortfall would arise. The expected calls and distributions also feed into the liquidity forecast.

For each fund, Finaure shows the commitment, paid-in capital, open commitment, NAV, TVPI, DPI, RVPI and your own IRR: calculated from your paid calls and distributions, with the NAV as the terminal value. Alongside it is the IRR reported by the fund, if it has been entered. Finaure shows the development of your cumulative cash flows, to date and estimated, for all funds together or for each one individually.

Your data is stored in a data centre in the EU (Frankfurt region). For details, see Security. To see how the funds appear alongside property, securities accounts and companies in the wealth overview, go to Features.

Sources

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Last updated: 6 November 2026

Private equity: keeping track of calls and commitments.