Significant Accounting Policies
The following is a summary of significant accounting policies consistently followed by the Funds in the preparation of the financial statements. These policies are inconformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”).
Investment Valuation
Each security owned by the Funds that is listed on a securities exchange is valued at its last sale price on that exchange on the date as of which assets are valued. When the security is listed on more than one exchange, the Funds will use the price of the exchange that the Funds generally consider to be the principal exchange on which the security is traded.
Fund securities listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) will be valued at the NASDAQ Official Closing Price (“NOCP”), which may not necessarily represent the last sale price. If the NOCP is not available, such securities shall be valued at the last sale price on the day of valuation. If there has been no sale on such exchange or on NASDAQ on such day, the security is valued at the mean between the most recent bid and asked prices on such day. Over-the-counter securities that are not traded on NASDAQ shall be valued at the most recent trade price.
Debt securities, other than short-term instruments, are valued at the mean between the closing bid and asked prices provided by a pricing service (“Pricing Service”). If the closing bid and asked prices are not readily available, the Pricing Service may provide a price determined by matrix pricing or other analytical pricing models. Short-term debt securities, such as commercial paper, bankers’ acceptances and U.S. Treasury bills having a maturity of less than 60 days, are valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. If a short-term debt security has a maturity of greater than 60 days, it is valued at market price.
Redeemable securities issued by open-end, registered investment companies, including money market funds, are valued at the net asset value (“NAV”) of such companies for purchase and/or redemption orders placed on that day.
When market quotations are not readily available, any security or other asset is valued at its fair value as determined under fair value pricing procedures approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board of Trustees”). These fair value pricing procedures will also be used to price a security when corporate events, events in the securities market and/or world events cause the Adviser to believe that a security’s last sale price may not reflect its actual fair market value. The intended effect of using fair value pricing procedures is to ensure that the Funds are accurately priced.
The Funds’ fair value procedures include fair valuation accounting standards that establish an authoritative definition of fair value and set out a hierarchy for measuring fair value. These standards require additional disclosures about the various inputs used to develop the measurements of fair value. These inputs are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:
Level 1—unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical securities.
Level 2—other significant observable inputs (including unadjusted quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.).
Level 3—significant unobservable inputs (including a Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments).
