The expense ratio of a
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
or asset fund is the total percentage of fund assets used for administrative, management, advertising (12b-1), and all other expenses. An expense ratio of 1% per annum means that each year 1% of the fund's total assets will be used to cover expenses. The expense ratio does not include sales loads or brokerage commissions.
Expense ratios are important to consider when choosing a fund, as they can significantly affect returns. Factors influencing the expense ratio include the size of the fund (small funds often have higher ratios as they spread expenses among a smaller number of investors), sales charges, and the management style of the fund. A typical annual expense ratio for a
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
domestic stock fund is about 1%, although some passively managed funds (such as
index fund
An index fund (also index tracker) is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to follow certain preset rules so that the fund can a specified basket of underlying investments.Reasonable Investor(s), Boston University Law Review, avail ...
s) have significantly lower ratios.
One notable component of the expense
ratio
In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ...
of U.S. funds is the "12b-1 fee", which represents expenses used for advertising and promotion of the fund. 12b-1 fees are generally limited to a maximum of 1.00% per year (.75% distribution and .25% shareholder servicing) under
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associati ...
Rules.
The term "expense ratio" is also a key measure of performance for a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. The term is sometimes used in other contexts as well.
Waivers, reimbursements and recoupments
Some funds will execute "waiver or reimbursement agreements" with the fund's adviser or other service providers, especially when a fund is new and expenses tend to be higher (due to a small asset base). These agreements generally reduce expenses to some pre-determined level or by some pre-determined amount. Sometimes, these waiver/reimbursement amounts must be repaid by the fund during a period that generally cannot exceed 3 years from the year in which the original expense was incurred. If a recoupment plan is in effect, the effect may be to require future shareholders to absorb expenses of the fund incurred during prior years. It is calculated by operating expenses.
Changes in expense ratio (fixed and variable expenses)
Generally, unlike future performance, expenses are predictable. Funds with high expense ratios tend to continue to have high expense ratios. An investor can examine a fund's "Financial Highlights" which is contained in both the periodic financial reports and the fund's
prospectus, and determine a fund's expense ratio over the last five years (if the fund has five years of history). It is very hard for a fund to significantly lower its expense ratio once it has had a few years of operational history.
This is because funds have both fixed and variable expenses, but most expenses are variable. Variable costs are fixed on a percentage basis. For example, assuming there are no breakpoints, a .75% management fee will always consume .75% of fund assets, regardless of any increase in assets under management. The total management fee will vary based on the assets under management, but it will always be .75% of assets.
Fixed costs (such as rent or an audit fee) vary on a percentage basis because the lump sum rent/audit amount as a percentage will vary depending on the amount of assets a fund has acquired. Thus, most of a fund's expenses behave as a variable expense and thus, are a constant fixed percentage of fund assets. It is, therefore, very hard for a fund to significantly reduce its expense ratio after it has some history. Thus, if an investor buys a fund with a high expense ratio that has some history, he/she should not expect any significant reduction.
Expenses matter relative to investment type
There are three broad investment categories for mutual funds (equity, bond, and money market – in declining order of historical returns). This is an over-simplification, but is adequate to explain the effect of expenses. In an equity fund where the historical gross return might be 9%, a 1% expense ratio will consume approximately 11% of the investor's return (1 divided by 9 is about 0.11 or 11%). In a bond fund where the historical gross return might be 8%, a 1% expense ratio will consume approximately 12.5% of the investor's return. In a money market fund where the historical gross return might be 5%, a 1% expense ratio will consume approximately 20% of the investor's historical total return. Thus, an investor must consider a fund's expense ratio as it relates to the type of investments a fund will hold.
Nonprofit organizations
In
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
s, the term "program expense ratio" refers to program expenses divided by total expenses.
[Zack, Gerard.]
''Financial Statement Fraud: Strategies for Detection and Investigation''
p. 224 (Wiley and Sons, 2012). This is one of the primary financial indicators of concern to charities and their donors.
The sum of the program expense ratio and the "support service expense ratio" is by definition 100% for a non-profit organization.
[Zietlow, John et al.]
''Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations''
p. 336 (Wiley and Sons, 2012). Charities having a higher program expense ratio (and thus a lower support service expense ratio) are often considered to be more efficient.
The support service expense ratio is also commonly called the "
overhead".
[Berger, Ken et al]
"The Overhead Myth"
''Nonprofit Quarterly'' (June 17, 2013). Leading sources of information about charities, including
GuideStar
Candid is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies. In 2016, its database provided information on 2.5 million organizations.Wyland, Michael. "GuideStar Introduces Program Metrics Section for Nonprofit Profile ...
,
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial s ...
and the
Wise Giving Alliance
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance (WGA) is an American charity monitoring organization. Under previous names, it has been reporting on nationally-soliciting charities since the 1920s. BBB's Give.org evaluates charities, at no charge, using the 20 BBB St ...
, say that the support service expense ratio (i.e. "overhead") can be an important indicator, especially if it is at one extreme or another, but generally speaking it is just as important to look at other factors including transparency, governance, leadership, and results.
According to Charity Navigator (as of 2009), the national median for the support service expense ratio was 10 percent, and that expense ratio was less than 30 percent for more than three-fourths of the charities ranked on its website.
Other uses
The term is also widely used among finance and accounting professionals to demonstrate the profitability and viability of the operations of a business. In this context, the expense ratio shows the percentage of an operation's gross revenues that is being allocated to the expenses related to running the operation. Business managers who use profit and loss statements (i.e. income statements) to draft business plans find expense ratios to be very useful indices in producing forecasts, and determining where cost cutting and revenue maximization opportunities exist.
[Rushinek, A. and Rushinek, S. (1995). Forecasting sales, expenses and
stock market values by quarterly financial statement ratio analysis: a microcomputer software development model. Managerial Auditing Journal, 10(2), 7–33.]
See also
*
Operating expense
An operating expense, operating expenditure, operational expense, operational expenditure or opex is an ongoing cost for running a product, business, or system . Its counterpart, a capital expenditure (capex), is the cost of developing or provid ...
*
Total expense ratio
The total expense ratio (TER) is a measure of the total cost of a fund to an investor. Total costs may include various fees (purchase, redemption, auditing) and other expenses. The TER, calculated by dividing the total annual cost by the fund's ...
References
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Expense
Financial ratios