The Alternative Investment Management Association, which caters for the hedge fund sector, has updated its Fund Directors' Guide for the first time since 2008. For members it is £30; for non-members £150.

The guide is the initiative of AIMA’s 'sound practices' committee. AIMA first published it in June 2005 and last revised it in 2008 under the title AIMA’s Offshore Alternative Fund Directors’ Guide. The guide has three principal audiences in mind, which are, in no particular order of importance:

• investment managers and promoters of alternative funds;
• anyone who is considering becoming a director of an alternative fund; and
• the appointed board of directors of an alternative fund.

It examines some of the practical, legal and tax considerations when selecting and appointing directors of an alternative fund; it explains the basic tasks that fund directors should carry out and suggests ways in which fund directors could manage their relationships with the fund’s service providers.  

It contains general advice on the review of the annual audited accounts and issues relating to directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. It has been updated in the light of major new regulatory and tax developments such as the European Union's Alternative Investment Fund Managers' Directive and the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2010 and adds new sections that cover the general approach to fund governance, the monitoring of trading practices, insider-dealing and business continuity planning. There are more appendices to address some of the different jurisdictional requirements and practices affecting the Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg and US funds.