I almost never read stock and mutual fund reports and other information that those many companies send me. When I do, I rarely go past the third page of reports that have at least 50 pages. I like to look at the graphs that compare performance with other investments. Sometimes I find some interesting facts like Mario J. Gabelli earning $9 millon last year while his fund lost 20% of its value.
The most recent report I received is the Oppenheimer Strategic Income Fund Management Commentaries and Annual Report dated September 30, 2008. It totals 128 pages of information that would require an accountant’s knowledge to really understand. Oppenheimer’s auditor is the famous Deloitte & Touche LLP. That company attempts to reassure me by writing that the financial statements “represent fairly” the condition of the company “in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted” in the U.S.A.
I am not reassured as there is discussion of Swap Contracts, Credit Default Swap Contracts, and a variety of other swap contracts. This was supposed to be a conservative investment.
Bernard Madoff has been accused of cheating his clients out of billions of dollars. It’s an accusation that has yet to be proven. Although the accounting firm that reviewed his records is small there is no evidence that it was not qualified to audit the Madoff investment company. If Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the suicide victim and an esteemed financier who tapped his upper-crust European connections and invested both his client’s funds and his own money in Madoff’s company, could not recognize a scam how could us less trained individuals know that Madoff was running a ponzi scheme?
Who among us non-financial experts can read one of these reports and really understand the investment company? I rely upon magazine and newspaper articles, Morning Star, some financial newsletters and occasionally a broker. I will be spending more time learning to read and understand those annual reports and disclosures.
Coast Contact 
VqrGAC Thanks for good post