The rate at which the fee declines is disclosed in the prospectus.

The sad fact is that investors have no guarantee fees will decline if a fund becomes a dismal performer.

In particular, principals have suffered the largest fall suggesting that fees declined relatively more than salaries.

And if the fees being paid to comics have declined somewhat, they are still hefty.

In both funds, Alliance's fees decline gradually as total assets rise above certain levels.

The fees typically decline from 5 percent to zero over that time.

The fee would decline for projects built farther away from the Sound, because of their smaller impact on the water.

The advisory fee for its income funds has declined to 0.028 percent from 0.039 percent.

Most notable is investment banking, where advisory fees declined 18 percent last year, compared with 2003.

Another positive development is that fees paid to auditors for nonaudit work declined over all last year.