Fund, in English, refers to a certain amount of funds set up for a certain purpose. It mainly includes trust and investment funds, provident funds, insurance funds and retirement funds. From the accounting point of view, capital is a narrow concept, which refers to funds with specific purposes and uses. The fund we are talking about mainly refers to the securities investment fund.
I. Types of funds
(1) According to whether the fund unit can be increased or redeemed, it can be divided into open-end funds and closed-end funds. Open-end funds are not traded on the market (as the case may be), but are purchased and redeemed by banks, brokers and fund companies, and the fund scale is not fixed; Closed-end funds have a fixed duration and are generally listed and traded on the stock exchange. Investors buy and sell fund shares through the secondary market.
(2) According to different organizational forms, it can be divided into corporate funds and contractual funds. A fund is established by issuing fund shares to establish an investment fund company, which is usually called a corporate fund; The establishment of fund managers, fund custodians and investors through fund contracts is usually called contractual funds. China's securities investment funds are all contractual funds.
(3) According to the different investment risks and returns, it can be divided into growth funds, income funds and balanced funds.
(4) According to different investors, it can be divided into bond funds, stock funds, money funds and hybrid funds.
Second, the difference between open-end funds and closed-end funds
(1) The variability of fund size is different. Closed-end funds have a definite duration (in China, the duration is not less than 5 years), during which the issued fund shares cannot be redeemed. Although this kind of fund can be raised under special circumstances, it must meet strict legal conditions. So in general, the size of the fund is fixed. However, the fund shares issued by open-end funds can be redeemed, and investors can also buy fund shares at will during the duration of the fund, which leads to the constant change of the total amount of funds every day. In other words, it is always in an "open" state. This is the fundamental difference between closed-end funds and open-end funds.
(2) There are different ways to buy and sell fund shares. When a closed-end fund is initiated, investors can subscribe to the fund management company or sales organization; When closed-end funds are listed and traded, investors can entrust brokers to buy and sell at market prices on the stock exchange. When investors invest in open-end funds, they can purchase or redeem them from fund management companies or sales organizations at any time.