Chapter 23
Mutual Fund Operations
Outline
Background on Mutual Funds
Pricing Shares of Mutual Funds
Mutual Fund Distributions to Shareholders
Regulation of Mutual Funds
Management of Mutual Funds
Expenses Incurred by Mutual Fund Shareholders
Governance of Mutual Funds
Governance of Corporations by Mutual Funds
Mutual Fund Categories
Stock Mutual Fund Categories
Bond Mutual Fund Categories
Asset Allocation Funds
Performance of Mutual Funds
Performance of Stock Mutual Funds
Performance of Bond Mutual Funds
Performance from Diversifying among Funds
Ratings on Mutual Funds
Research on Mutual Fund Performance
Money Market Funds
Asset Composition of Money Market Funds
Risk of Money Market Funds
Management of Money Market Funds
Other Types of Funds
Closed-end Funds
Exchange-Traded Funds
Venture Capital Funds
Private Equity Funds
Hedge Funds
Real Estate Investment Trusts
Key Concepts
1. Describe the various types of mutual funds, and elaborate where necessary.
2. Describe the various types of money market funds, and elaborate where necessary.
3. Discuss the participation of mutual funds in financial markets.
POINT/COUNTER-POINT:
Should Mutual Funds be Subject to More Regulation?
POINT: No. Mutual funds can be monitored by their shareholders (just like many firms), and the
shareholders can enforce governance.
COUNTER-POINT: Yes. Mutual funds need to be governed by regulators, because they are accountable
for such a large amount of money. Without regulation, there could be massive withdrawals from mutual
funds when unethical behavior by managers of mutual funds is publicized.
WHO IS CORRECT? Use InfoTrac or some other source search engine to learn more about this issue and
then formulate your own opinion.
ANSWER: Recent scandals have found that some mutual funds were allowing their shares to be traded
after the market closed but at the price that existed at the market close. More regulation can prevent future
scandals. However, there is a fine line between enough regulation to prevent such abuses and too much
regulation.