Q: I own several no-load stock funds, and I'd like to know why dividends paid by the stocks in the fund are not distributed to fund shareholders.

Some funds charge an annual fee to compensate the distributor of fund shares for providing ongoing services to fund shareholders.

Mr. Spitzer also disclosed memorandums of senior Janus officials discussing how detrimental the practice of timing can be to fund shareholders.

And it would clearly cover cases where it was the insiders, who have a fiduciary responsibility to fund shareholders, who were making the profits.

The Investment Company Institute also studied the issue about the same time and recommended that fund companies enact new restrictions, tighten compliance policies and disclose those procedures to fund shareholders.

A lot of trading may also give rise to taxable capital gains, which must be distributed to fund shareholders along with the tax liability.

Vanguard says it sells services at cost to fund shareholders, who own the company.

Putnam reiterated yesterday that it would make restitution to fund shareholders for losses caused by the improper trading of fund managers.

Fund firms will have to decide whether to pass on the added cost to fund shareholders in the form of higher expenses.

The agreement has established a fair process for making full monetary restitution to fund shareholders for losses attributable to excessive short-term trading and market timing by Putnam employees.