F214. Mutual Funds and Investment Companies
Federal Reserve definition for F214 flow of funds table
Mutual fund shares are obligations issued by mutual funds, also known as open-end investment companies.
Mutual funds issue their shares on demand and stand ready to redeem them at net asset value (the market value of the total assets of the redeeming fund less its total liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding.)
This category excludes money market mutual fund shares, which are shown in table F.206.
Mutual fund shares are distinct from corporate equities; even though the mutual funds themselves hold corporate equities, funds invested in equities are not double-counted in the flow of funds accounts.
Data on issues of mutual fund shares are derived from reports of the Investment Company Institute (ICI); data on holdings of shares by sectors come from regulatory and trade association reports and from ICI.
Share values are determined by the market value of the underlying assets held by the funds, but the value for the shares outstanding in the flow of funds tables differ from figures reported by ICI because in the flow of funds accounts some of the mutual funds' financial assets are shown at book rather than market value.
Mutual fund shares held by households and nonprofit organizations sector, whose holdings are larger than any other sector, are the residual after all other sectors have been subtracted from the total.
