ICI Comments on Proposed Fund Fees for New Accounting Oversight Board

Washington, DC, April 4, 2003 - The Institute supports the mission of the recently instituted Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which is charged with protecting investors by ensuring that corporate issuer's financial statements are audited according to the highest standards of quality, independence, and ethics.

In a recent comment letter, the Institute also expressed support for the decision to assess investment companies ten percent of the rate paid by publicly traded companies as part of the accounting support fees proposed to fund the costs of PCAOB operations.

Under the proposal, issuers, including investment companies, would be assessed annually an accounting support fee based on their market capitalization or net assets. The proposal would allocate the cost of funding the PCAOB's operations into two classes of issuers-publicly-traded companies and investment companies. Publicly-traded companies with market capitalization in excess of $25 million and investment companies with net assets in excess of $250 million would be subject to the fee.