Notes to Financial Statements (unaudited)
(1) Business and Organization
Massachusetts Investors Trust (the fund) is organized as a Massachusetts business trust and is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as a diversified open-end management investment company.
The fund is an investment company and accordingly follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946 Financial Services - Investment Companies.
(2) Significant Accounting Policies
General — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. In the preparation of these financial statements, management has evaluated subsequent events occurring after the date of the fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities through the date that the financial statements were issued.
Balance Sheet Offsetting — The fund's accounting policy with respect to balance sheet offsetting is that, absent an event of default by the counterparty or a termination of the agreement, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement, or similar agreement, does not result in an offset of reported amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities across transactions between the fund and the applicable counterparty. The fund's right to setoff may be restricted or prohibited by the bankruptcy or insolvency laws of the particular jurisdiction to which a specific master netting agreement counterparty is subject. Balance sheet offsetting disclosures, to the extent applicable to the fund, have been included in the fund’s Significant Accounting Policies note under the captions for each of the fund’s in-scope financial instruments and transactions.
Investment Valuations — Subject to its oversight, the fund's Board of Trustees has delegated primary responsibility for determining or causing to be determined the value of the fund’s investments to MFS as the fund's adviser, pursuant to the fund’s valuation policy and procedures which have been adopted by the adviser and approved by the Board. In accordance with Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Board of Trustees designated the adviser as the “valuation designee” of the fund. If the adviser, as valuation designee, determines that reliable market quotations are not readily available for an investment, the investment is valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the adviser in accordance with the adviser’s fair valuation policy and procedures.
Under the fund's valuation policy and procedures, equity securities, including restricted equity securities, are generally valued at the last sale or official closing price on their primary market or exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Equity securities, for which there were no sales reported that day, are generally valued at the last quoted daily bid quotation on their primary market or exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Short-term instruments with a maturity at issuance of 60 days or less may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates market value. Open-end investment companies are generally valued at net asset value per share. The values of foreign securities and other assets and liabilities expressed in foreign currencies are converted to U.S. dollars using the mean of bid and asked prices for rates provided by a third-party pricing service.
Under the fund’s valuation policy and procedures, market quotations are not considered to be readily available for debt instruments, floating rate loans, and many types of derivatives. These investments are generally valued at fair value based on information from third-party pricing services or otherwise determined by the adviser in accordance with the adviser’s fair valuation policy and procedures. Securities and other assets generally valued on the basis of information from a third-party pricing service may also be valued at a broker/dealer bid quotation. In determining values, third-party pricing services can utilize both transaction data and market information such as yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, spreads and other market data. An investment may also be valued at fair value if the adviser determines that the investment’s value has been materially affected by events occurring after the close of the exchange or market on which the investment is principally traded (such as foreign exchange or market) and prior to the determination of the fund’s net asset value, or after the halt of trading of a specific security where trading does not resume prior to the close of the exchange or market on which the security is principally traded. Events that occur after foreign markets close (such as developments in foreign markets and significant movements in the U.S. markets) and prior to the determination of the fund’s net asset value may be deemed to have a material effect on the value of securities traded in foreign markets. Accordingly, the fund’s foreign equity securities may often be valued at fair value. The adviser generally relies on third-party pricing services or other information (such as the correlation with price movements of similar securities in the same or other markets; the type, cost and investment characteristics of the security; the business and financial condition of the issuer; and trading and other market data) to assist in determining whether to fair value and at what value to fair value an investment. The value of an investment for purposes of calculating the fund’s net asset value can differ depending on the source and method used to determine value. When
