Deduction of Fees and Daily Valuation

[Fred Payne]

Almost every account we administer is participant-directed and valued daily. There are no "pooled" investment options from which we can deduct fees. Each is a publicly-traded fund. Thus, when a fee is to be charged against plan assets, there is an itemization against the participant's account for the fee deduction. Since the charge is pro-rated across each participant's holdings, there can be a dozen transactions recorded if, for instance, the participant owns 12 separate funds off the menu list.

We try to hold off a deduction until there is a contribution, taking fees from cash rather than the proceeds of sales. But this is not always possible (and can be tough on cashflow).

I'm all in favor of full disclosure and transparency, but I'd like to minimize the number of transactions that are of record.

Can anyone share any creative ideas to consider? Or is this the "nature of the beast?"

[Guest stryan]

"Nature of the beast!" I think I have probably spend far more time over the years trying to reconcile and explain offsetting transactions than a few increased number of transactions would warranted.