TER & governance

Total Expense Ratio (TER) is a standardised way to express certain ongoing fund costs as a percentage of assets. It is a disclosure tool — not a complete picture of every rand members may pay, and not a quality score.

Governance packs often separate fund TER, platform/admin, and advice. Industry readers should map which line sits where before comparing products or investment policies. Apples-to-apples comparisons fail when one pack embeds advice and another shows it separately.

Boards can ask: who owns the TER figure in the pack, what methodology period applies, and whether transaction costs or performance fees are called out elsewhere. Document the answers in minutes when costs inform a decision.

Hypothetical examples on Benefits Desk never replace the fund’s own fact sheets or annual disclosures. Any CPD fields shown are structural only — no live accreditation is claimed.