Arthur Bell History

We would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to Arthur Bell.  Our Firm has extensive knowledge and experience in the hedge fund, managed futures and securities industries.  We take great pride in the quality of our services and our responsiveness to our clients’ needs.  We believe that our knowledge and experience in the industry provide significant value to our clients.

Arthur Bell has been providing audit, tax, accounting and consulting services to the hedge fund, securities and managed futures industries since the firm's inception in 1974. Arthur F. Bell, Jr., the Managing Member, is supported by eight additional Members, eight directors and over 70 professional staff. The following sections highlight our Firm's services and personnel which are the primary reasons our clients and prospective clients select and continue to select Arthur Bell as their independent accounting firm.

Our Experience in the Hedge Fund and Managed Futures Industries
The Firm's services are almost exclusively focused on the managed futures, hedge fund and securities industry. The Firm provides audit, tax, accounting and consulting services to hundreds of funds and advisers. The funds range in net asset value from under $5 million to over $15 billion, with as many as sixty thousand investors in a single fund. The advisers range in size from start-up clients to clients with assets under management exceeding $150 billion. Services are also provided to many brokers and dealers in securities, introducing brokers and other businesses formed to support the financial services provided by our clients. Arthur Bell is also an approved auditor for the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda, as well as other offshore jurisdictions. The experience and training of our staff is entirely relevant to our industry; therefore, our clients do not need to train our professional staff in their industry. For further background about the Firm's credentials, its key personnel and the scope of services we provide, please refer to the links above.

Our Industry Reputation
The name Arthur Bell is recognized by sophisticated institutional and individual investors. Our Firm has tremendous name recognition in the industry, comparing favorably to any of the Big Four accounting firms. Our clients successfully market their funds to institutions and individuals through various distribution networks, including institutional brokers and marketing consultants. The Firm and its superior reputation are well recognized by most major participants in the managed futures, hedge fund and securities industries.

Our Attention to Service
One of the ways we differentiate ourselves from other firms is our responsiveness and our attention to providing superior service. We take pride in the quality of our service and our personal attention to our clients' service needs. Client relationships are our Firm's most valued asset. The Firm is managed and structured so that each client receives significant personal attention from one or more of the Firm's Members or Directors. Our Firm's structure and size enables us to provide this high level of client service while still providing the breadth and depth of talent and resources in the most demanding business environment.

Our Support of the Industry
Arthur Bell is well recognized as a strong supporter of the industry. We are actively involved in the Managed Funds Association (MFA) as Board Members, Officers and committee members. Members and staff at the Firm spend hundreds of hours annually in support of the mission and specific projects of the MFA. Arthur F. Bell, Jr. serves on the MFA Board of Directors.  He has previously served as Treasurer and in various other Board capacities in past years. Ross Ellberg represents the industry's views as a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) Leverage and Derivatives Subcommittee and also represents the industry as a past member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Investment Companies Expert Panel and on several accounting and auditing task forces.

We are well known and respected by the regulators of the CFTC and NFA. We are able to successfully assist clients with regulatory matters primarily through our familiarity with certain key regulatory staff and our ability to contact the most appropriate regulator to match the client's facts and circumstances. We are frequently consulted by regulators in connection with proposed rule-making initiatives.

Members of the Firm are frequent speakers or panelists at various industry conferences and training seminars.

The Quality and Depth of Our Auditing Approach
Our attention to the fundamentals of auditing and accounting is a valuable quality in today's business and accounting environment. Recent well-publicized events involving accounting fraud and potentially inferior audit quality have raised investors' awareness of the importance of a quality and in-depth audit. The business of auditing is the core of the Firm's services. Our clients and prospective clients can take comfort in the fact that the basic concepts that result in an efficient and effective audit receive our full attention.
Our Firm is a member of the Center for Audit Quality and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. As such, we are subject to peer review by an independent public accounting firm every three years. All of our previous peer reviews have received the highest available rating.

Arthur Bell was one of the first public accounting firms approved by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB was established under the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies that are subject to the U.S. securities laws. The Firm is authorized by the PCAOB to conduct audits of SEC registrants. However, during 2005, the Firm made the difficult business decision to cease performing audits of SEC registrants. This allows us to provide other important services to our SEC registrant clients that, as auditors, we would be unable to perform under recent PCAOB and SEC auditor independence rules.

Our Specialized Tax Expertise
The Firm has extensive multi-state and international tax experience. We deal daily with complex tax issues involving tax compliance requirements of non-resident aliens, controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies and foreign partnerships. Being well grounded in the industry with over 300 hedge fund and commodity pool tax clients, we remain current on tax changes on the state, federal and international level.

The Breadth and Depth of our Specialized Service Capabilities
In addition to the audit services outlined above, the Firm routinely provides additional services ranging from examinations of performance records to the study and evaluation of internal control over investor accounting processes within organizations. We also provide accurate and timely advice on such matters as off-shore fund accounting, fund-of-funds pass-through partnership accounting and taxation, and emerging technical matters affecting our clients.

Our Reasonable Fee Structure
Our fees are typically less than those of the largest accounting firms, but are not necessarily the lowest available. We believe that the added value we bring with our industry knowledge and expertise, when combined with our fee structure, provides our clients with superior service at a reasonable cost.

Our Location
The Firm is located just north of Baltimore, Maryland, which allows easy access to our client base. We service a large client base in major financial centers and other locations all over the United States, as well as various offshore locations. In addition, we service European clients in London and Paris, and other cities around the world. Given the electronic interface available between the Firm, our clients and their financial institutions through e-mail, internet, fax, phone, etc., a substantial portion of our services are generally conducted in our office in Maryland.