2. Significant Accounting Policies (continued):
(e) Expenses:
Pursuant to the Amended and Restated Advisory Agreement (Advisory Agreement) between CSIM and the trust, the investment adviser will pay the operating expenses of each fund, excluding taxes, any brokerage expenses, and extraordinary or non-routine expenses. Taxes, any brokerage expenses and extraordinary or non-routine expenses that are specific to a fund are charged directly to the fund.
(f) Distributions to Shareholders:
The funds make distributions from net investment income, if any, quarterly and from net realized capital gains, if any, once a year.
(g) Accounting Estimates:
The accounting policies described in this report conform to GAAP. Notwithstanding this, shareholders should understand that in order to follow these principles, fund management has to make estimates and assumptions that affect the information reported in the financial statements. It’s possible that once the results are known, they may turn out to be different from these estimates and these differences may be material.
(h) Federal Income Taxes:
The funds intend to meet federal income and excise tax requirements for regulated investment companies under subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended. Accordingly, the funds distribute substantially all of their net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, to their respective shareholders each year. As long as a fund meets the tax requirements, it is not required to pay federal income tax.
(i) Indemnification:
Under the funds’ organizational documents, the officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the funds. In addition, in the normal course of business the funds enter into contracts with their vendors and others that provide general indemnifications. The funds’ maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the funds. However, based on experience, the funds expect the risk of loss attributable to these arrangements to be remote.
3. Risk Factors:
Investing in the funds may involve certain risks, as discussed in the funds’ prospectus, including, but not limited to, those described below. Any of these risks could cause an investor to lose money.
Market Risk. Financial markets rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably. Markets may be impacted by economic, political, regulatory and other conditions, including economic sanctions and other government actions. In addition, the occurrence of global events, such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or epidemics, may also negatively affect the financial markets. As with any investment whose performance is tied to these markets, the value of an investment in a fund will fluctuate, which means that an investor could lose money over short or long periods.
Investment Style Risk. The funds are index funds. Therefore, each fund follows the securities included in its respective index during upturns as well as downturns. Because of their indexing strategies, the funds do not take steps to reduce market exposure or to lessen the effects of a declining market. In addition, because of the funds’ expenses, the funds’ performance may be below that of their respective index. Errors relating to the index may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index provider for a period of time. In addition, market disruptions could cause delays in the index’s rebalancing schedule. Such errors and/or market disruptions may result in losses for the fund.
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF primarily invests in dividend paying stocks. As a result, fund performance will correlate with the performance of the dividend paying stock segment of the stock market, and a fund may underperform funds that do not limit their investments to dividend paying stocks. If stocks held by a fund reduce or stop paying dividends, the fund’s ability to generate income may be affected.
Equity Risk. The prices of equity securities rise and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, industries or the securities market as a whole. In addition, equity markets tend to move in cycles, which may cause stock prices to fall over short or extended periods of time.