Investment Fund Management Reports and the GAO’s Recommendations

Investment fund management reports help provide clients with critical information regarding their investments in a consistent and accessible manner. These reports usually present performance information in a variety of ways (MTD, QTD, and YTD) and are usually coupled with risk analysis data such as VaR and stress testing. As regulations are imposed, managers are required to provide more specific information on their risk management strategies than ever before.

Investors are more and more interested in knowing the exact amount they pay for fund investments. This is evident by the demand for more comprehensive information on fees charged by fund. Some http://productsdataroom.com funds define management fee in a narrow manner and only include costs that are related to choosing investments for the portfolio within this number. Other funds have “unified fees” which cover a variety of expenses including administrative and record-keeping services such as brokerage commissions, and 12b-1 fees.

Many funds utilize breakpoint contracts which allow the management fee to decreases at certain asset intervals based on the total assets of the fund. Investors need to know how much the management fee is for every interval to evaluate these contracts. The GAO recommends that the Commission that funds provide fee information per share at the level of class as and disclose any fees paid out of the principal and not the management fee.

The GAO also recommended that the Investment Company Act requires that independent directors (directors who aren’t affiliated with the fund’s management) comprise at a minimum a majority of members of the board of a mutual fund. This will ensure that independent board members are able to adequately represent the shareholders’ interests.

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