At the same time more respondents - 81.8 per cent versus 66.7 per cent last year - say their single family office has sufficient expertise in house to evaluate investment vehicles and strategies. SFOs with more than $500 million in assets all expressed full confidence in their investment expertise, while smaller firms were less sure.

Investment performance at SFOs has turned around as markets have recovered. Participants reported a 6.1 per cent gain in assets under supervision in 2009, compared to a 9 per cent loss in 2008 among those taking part in last year's study.

Sustainability was listed as the number two challenge but dropped somewhat in importance from last year's study. The share of participants saying they are somewhat concerned or very concerned about sustainability amounted to 53.1 per cent this year, down from 58.8 per cent last year. Similarly, family cohesion and governance dropped to the number six challenge, after tying for number one last year.

The Family Wealth Alliance, which will unveil the findings later today at its Fall Forum in Oak Brook, Illinois, warns that the news is not all good. Many SFOs are worried at the prospect of new government regulation that could intrude on their privacy. Compliance and regulatory uncertainty were cited as the number three challenge.

The Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation repealed the private advisor exemption to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which most single family offices traditionally have relied on to avoid registration. The law contains a new exemption for single family offices along with grandfathering provisions, although not all family offices may qualify for them.

As reported by Family Wealth Report, the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week proposed a rule setting standards for single family offices that can qualify under the exemption.

The study also found that SFOs took a more positive view of their ability to meet evolving fiduciary requirements than did participants in last year's study. Four out of five said they are fully confident in their ability to meet fiduciary requirements, compared to 64.7 per cent last year. Just 21.3 per cent said they are less than fully confident about fiduciary duties, compared to 35.3 per cent last year. Smaller firms are less confident on this issue than larger ones.

Salaries for chief executive officers rose almost 24 per cent. The largest offices, those exceeding $1 billion in assets, paid more than twice as much as their smaller SFO counterparts.

Thirty-four firms participated in the study, with average assets under supervision of $516 million and aggregate client rosters that include more than 1,700 family members. They range in size from $42 million to $1.5 billion. The study was conducted in the summer of 2010 and in most cases the respondent was the family office chief executive. The Alliance estimates the universe of US-based single family offices is 2,500 to 3,000.

Findings of the FWA’s seventh annual multi-family office survey, also released today, can be found here.