At Acker Finley, we expect to be judged on performance – and provide our clients with easy access to performance data and a high level of transparency in reporting. We also strive to help clients make sense of their investment returns, and performance in general.

Here are some useful measures recommended for investors interested in judging the performance of Acker Finley funds or, for that matter, those of any money manager.

Third-Party Rating Systems

Globefund and Morningstar, recognized leaders in third-party fund analysis, offer star rating systems that can help you understand how well a fund has been doing relative to similar funds. While these systems should not be used as the only criteria for evaluating fund performance, they're a good starting point.

Globefund 5-Star Rating

The Globefund 5-Star Rating system rates funds with at least two years of performance history. This simple system covers most mutual funds in Canada and is updated monthly.

To check the Globefund 5-star rating for Acker Finley funds, visit www.globefund.com and enter "Acker Finley" in the Enter (Partial) Fund Name box.

Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Rating (www.morningstar.ca)

For funds with at least three years of performance data, the Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Rating is an easy way to identify funds that have produced strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers. The overall star rating for a fund is a weighted combination of its three, five, and ten year ratings (if applicable). Ratings are recalculated monthly.

Acker Finley's Select US V50 and Select Canada Focus will have three years of performance data (the minimum required to be included in Morningstar ratings ) by year-end 2006.