The General Accounting Office wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to help investors choose among mutual funds based on their fees.
According to report issued this week, the GAO recommended that the commission consider the benefits of additional disclosure relating to fund fees, including requiring more information in quarterly account statements about the fees. The GAO also recommended that the SEC evaluate ways to provide more information to investors that would allow them to evaluate possible conflicts of interest that arise from revenue-sharing arrangements, payments funds make to broker/dealers for distribution, and fund advisers’ use of soft dollars, incentives paid to broker/dealers by advisers to spur them to sell their funds.
