# Can a GPT4-Powered AI Agent Be a Good Enough Performance Attribution Analyst?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10482 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10482/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Financial trading and forecasting agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 3 of its 6 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Mar 2024.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Financial trading and forecasting agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/financial-trading-and-forecasting-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Self-Consistency Improves Chain of Thought Reasoning in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11171/) (2022)
- [The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07864/) (2023)
- [Gorilla: Large Language Model Connected with Massive APIs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15334/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Performance attribution analysis, defined as the process of explaining the drivers of the excess performance of an investment portfolio against a benchmark, stands as a significant feature of portfolio management and plays a crucial role in the investment decision-making process, particularly within the fund management industry. Rooted in a solid financial and mathematical framework, the importance and methodologies of this analytical technique are extensively documented across numerous academic research papers and books. The integration of large language models (LLMs) and AI agents marks a groundbreaking development in this field. These agents are designed to automate and enhance the performance attribution analysis by accurately calculating and analyzing portfolio performances against benchmarks. In this study, we introduce the application of an AI Agent for a variety of essential performance attribution tasks, including the analysis of performance drivers and utilizing LLMs as calculation engine for multi-level attribution analysis and question-answering (QA) tasks. Leveraging advanced prompt engineering techniques such as Chain-of-Thought (CoT) and Plan and Solve (PS), and employing a standard agent framework from LangChain, the research achieves promising results: it achieves accuracy rates exceeding 93% in analyzing performance drivers, attains 100% in multi-level attribution calculations, and surpasses 84% accuracy in QA exercises that simulate official examination standards. These findings affirm the impactful role of AI agents, prompt engineering and evaluation in advancing portfolio management processes, highlighting a significant development in the practical application and evaluation of Generative AI technologies within the domain.