Mutual Fund Expense Disclosures: A Behavioral Perspective

Mutual funds have enjoyed phenomenal growth with their numbers exceeding the number of public companies and their assets aggregating in excess of $9 trillion. Increasingly they are the investment instrument of choice by the proverbial widows, widowers and orphans, and a few school teachers are included as well. But how are best can that choice be one that is not only informed but informed in a way more likely to elicit a wise decision? This paper examines from a behavioral perspective how regulation can best disclose information related to two key factors for investors to compare competing mutual funds: fund returns and fund expenses. Our analysis reflects that the current disclosure process is deficient because it fails to reflect the insights of research on judgment and decision making, and particularly the need to distinguish between the availability of information and its processability by its user. The message of our article is straightforward: if regulators adhered to the insights provided by our paper, not only investors, but also the fund\u27s directors, would be greatly empowered so that better returns and lower costs could be expected

Mutual Fund Expense Disclosures: A Behavioral Perspective

The last few years have not been kind to the mutual fund industry. To be sure, financial indices have improved with the collateral benefit of boosting investor optimism so that the net gain in assets under management by registered investment companies rose by more than ten percent in 2004 to reach $8.6 trillion at the end of the year. But the mutual fund scandals that were first unearthed in fall 2003, with the accusations of late trading involving the Canary Fund, have been compounded by further allegations of late trading involving other funds. These scandals have been joined by pervasive instances of fund advisors looking the other way as important clients were permitted to abuse fund prohibitions against rapid trading. Even the well-established practice of revenue sharing, whereby brokers are rewarded by funds for recommending the fund to their clients, are being reconsidered in the post-Enron era in light of rising concerns over pervasive conflicts of interest within the financial services industry. For example, revenue sharing is now regulated. The various mutual fund scandals have invited public and political focus on the rising level of fees and expenses levied upon funds by their advisors. Thus, 2004 found not only numerous government enforcement actions that resulted in significant financial settlements, but also a tectonic shift in the regulatory quilt that covers the mutual fund industry. Foremost among the regulatory developments for the mutual fund industry is the requirement of heightened transparency of how registered investment companies cast their proxies for their portfolio companies. Greater transparency regarding how funds vote complicates the life of the fund manager by placing the manager between the conflicting needs of gaining admission as one of the acceptable vendors of 401K plans for a portfolio company’s employees and confronting a shareholder-friendly proposal (e.g., separating the position of CEO and board chair) that is opposed by that portfolio company’s management. The SEC also adopted corporate governance changes that essentially compel most funds to raise the number of fund directors who are independent of the fund’s advisor to three-fourths (from the statutorily mandated level of forty percent). And, as will be discussed, in 2004 the SEC expanded the amount of information that funds must disclose regarding fees and other costs that are charged to the fund’s assets. This articles concludes that any reporting of expenses should be placed in a context that invites easy comparisons by investors. The proposal l is not that there should necessarily be more information disclosed to mutual fund investors, but that much more attention should be given to the cognitive processes investors can be expected to employ in their response to the disclosures that are made

Algebraic Topology of Calabi-Yau Threefolds in Toric Varieties

We compute the integral homology (including torsion), the topological K-theory, and the Hodge structure on cohomology of Calabi-Yau threefold hypersurfaces and complete intersections in Gorenstein toric Fano varieties. The methods are purely topological

On the road again: Corridor effects on nesting passerines in Missouri forests [abstract]

Abstract only availableRoads and other linear corridors may have profound ecological consequences. Direct mortality of adult birds by vehicle collisions is well documented, but increased nest predation along road corridors has not been shown in passerines. I tested the hypothesis that nests proximal to unimproved roads (<10 m) suffer greater nest predation than those further from roads (11+ m) due to a predator-corridor effect. Nests from four sites in Missouri were found, monitored, and filmed during the spring and summer of 2007. Roadside shrub-nesting passerines did not experience significantly lower nest success than those nesting far from roads. Acadian Flycatchers experienced significantly higher nest success than did birds of the shrub-nesting guild as a whole. Initial predator identifications are presented

Non-Destructive Testing Techniques for Corrosion Assessment in Reinforced Concrete Structures in Kenya

Deterioration of concrete structures is inevitable due to the fact that it is subjected to deterring environmental factors. Therefore, inspection and maintenance of these structures should be done to ensure their serviceability. Many concrete structures have been constructed in Kenya. A survey of some of the existing multi-storey buildings shows that even some of the old ones are in good condition; examples are the Norfork Hotel, Sarova Stanley Hotel and the railway bridges built in early 1900s. Yet, ageing structures require periodic monitoring to check their serviceability. Currently, inspection of most structures is done solely by simple visual means which is not always adequate. In order to enhance reliable assessment of structures, the present research introduces non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques for corrosion damage diagnosis in Kenyan concrete structures. Visual inspection is followed by half-cell potential measurements, carbonation tests and chloride tests. Laboratory analysis as well as field testing shows that NDT techniques provide safe, fast and reliable tools for the assessment of structural integrity. Keywords: Reinforced Concrete, Deterioration, Inspection, Non-destructive testin