THOMPSON IM FUNDS, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
February 28, 2022
VALUATION POLICY AND PROCEDURES - The Funds’ Board of Directors (the “Funds’ Board”) has adopted methods for valuing securities set forth in the Funds’ Pricing Policies and Procedures, including circumstances in which market quotes are not readily available or deemed to be unreliable, and has delegated authority to the Advisor to apply those methods in making fair value determinations, subject to oversight by the Funds’ Board. The Advisor has established a valuation committee that, along with other Advisor employees, administers, implements, and oversees the fair valuation process and makes fair value decisions. The valuation committee regularly reviews its own fair value decisions, as well as valuations, valuation techniques and services furnished by pricing services; considers circumstances in the markets which may require it to make or adjust valuation determinations; and reviews previous valuation determinations. The valuation committee reports on its activities and any changes to the fair valuation guidelines to the Funds’ Board.
VALUATION MEASUREMENTS – In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”), fair value is defined as the price that each Fund would receive to sell an investment or pay to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction with an independent buyer in the principal market, or in the absence of a principal market the most advantageous market for the investment or liability. GAAP established a three-tier hierarchy to maximize the use of observable market data and minimize the use of unobservable inputs and to establish classification of fair value measurements for disclosure purposes.
Various inputs are used in determining the value of each Fund’s investments. These inputs are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:
Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities.
Level 2 – Other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.).
Level 3 – Significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments).
Inputs may include price information, specific and broad credit data, liquidity statistics, and other factors. The Fund considers observable data to be that market data which is readily available, regularly distributed or updated, reliable and verifiable, not proprietary, and provided by independent sources that are actively involved in the relevant market. The determination of what constitutes “observable” requires significant judgment by the Fund. The categorization of a security within the hierarchy is based upon the pricing transparency of the security and does not necessarily correspond to the Fund’s perceived risk of that security. The inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair valuation hierarchy. In such cases, for disclosure purposes, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement falls in its entirety is determined based on the lowest level that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety.
SECURITY VALUATION - Each Fund’s equity securities, including common stocks, ADRs, REITs, and rights are valued at their market prices (generally the last reported sales price on the exchange where the securities are primarily traded or, for Nasdaq-listed securities, at their Nasdaq Official Closing Prices). If no sales are reported on a particular day, the mean between the highest bid and lowest asked quotations at the close of the exchanges will generally be used. To the extent these securities are actively traded, and valuation adjustments are not applied, they are categorized in level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. When adjustments to observable prices are applied or when the market is considered inactive, securities will be categorized in level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.
Investments in money market mutual funds are generally priced at the ending net asset value provided by the service agent of the funds. These securities will be categorized as level 1 securities.
Fixed-income securities such as corporate bonds, convertible bonds, asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, U.S. government and agency securities, sovereign bonds, municipal bonds and commercial paper are typically valued based on valuations published by an independent pricing service, which uses various valuation methodologies such as matrix pricing and other analytical pricing models as well as market transactions and dealer quotations. Factors considered by pricing services include market characteristics such as benchmark yield curves, option-adjusted spreads, credit spreads and fundamental analytical data relating to the issuer. Short-term investments in fixed-income securities (those with remaining maturities of 60 days or less) are generally valued on an amortized cost basis. Fixed-income securities will generally be categorized in level 2 of the fair value hierarchy, in instances where lower relative weight is placed on transaction prices, quotations, or similar observable inputs, they are categorized in level 3.
Where market quotations are not readily available or are unreliable, a value is determined in good faith pursuant to procedures established by the Funds’ Board. When determining the value of a security, consideration is given to the facts and circumstances relevant to the particular situation, which includes factors such as fundamental analytical data relating to the investment, which may include consideration of yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon rate, maturity and type of issue, nature and duration of any restrictions on disposition of the security and an evaluation of forces that influence the market in which the securities are purchased or sold. Fair value pricing is an inherently subjective process, and no single standard exists for determining fair value. Different funds could reasonably arrive at different values for the same security.
In December 2020, the SEC adopted a rule addressing fair valuation of fund investments. The new rule sets forth requirements for good faith determinations of fair value as well as for the performance of fair value determinations, including related oversight and reporting obligations. The new rule also defines “readily available market quotations” for purposes of the definition of “value” under the 1940 Act, and the SEC noted that this definition would apply in all contexts under the 1940 Act. The effective date for the rule is March 8, 2021. The SEC adopted an eighteen-month transition period beginning from the effective date for both the new rule and the associated new recordkeeping requirements. At this time, management is evaluating the implications of these changes on the financial statements.
