the Se- curities and Exchange Commission earlier this week. But despite all the hoopla surrounding the improve- ments-including a new "profile" prospectus and an eas- ier-to-read full prospectus-theres still a slew of vital information fund investors dont get from any disclosure documents, long or short. Of course, more information isnt necessarily better. As it is, investors rarely read fund disclosure documents, such as the prospectus (which funds must provide to prospective investors), the semiannual reports (provided to all fund investors) or the statement of additional in- formation (made available upon request). Buried in each are a few nuggets of useful data; but for the most part, theyre full of legalese and technical terms. So what should funds be required to disclose that they currently dont-and wont have to even after the SECs new rules take effect? Heres a partial list: Tax-adjusted returns: Under the new rules, both the full prospectus and the fund profile would contain a bar chart of annual returns over the past 10 years, and the funds best and worst quarterly returns during that pe- riod. Thats a huge improvement over not long ago when a funds raw returns were sometimes nowhere to be found in the prospectus. But that doesnt go far enough, according to some in- vestment advisers. Many would like to see funds report returns after taxes-using assumptions about an in- vestors tax bracket that would be disclosed in footnotes. The reason: Many funds make big payouts of dividends and capital gains, forcing investors to fork over a big chunk of their gains to the Internal Revenue Service. Whats in the fund: If youre about to put your retire- ment nest egg in a fund, shouldnt you get to see whats in it first? The zippy new profile prospectus describes a funds investment strategy, as did the old-style prospectus. But neither gives investors a look at what the fund actu- ally owns. To get the funds holdings, you have to have its latest semiannual or annual report. Most people dont get those documents until after they invest, and even then it can be as much as six months old. Many investment ad- visers think funds should begin reporting their holdings monthly, but so far funds have resisted doing so. A managers stake in a fund: Funds should be re- quired to tell investors whether the fund manager owns any of its shares so investors can see just how confident a manger is in his or her own ability to pick stocks, some investment advisers say. As it stands now, many fund groups dont even disclose the names and backgrounds of the men and women calling the shots, and instead re- port that their funds are managed by a "team" of individ- uals whose identities they dont disclose. A breakdown of fees: Investors will see in the profile prospectus a clearer outline of the expenses incurred by the fund company that manages the portfolio. But theres no way to tell whether you are picking up the tab for an- other guys lunch. The problem is, some no-load funds impose a so- called 12b-1 marketing fee on all shareholders. But they use the money gathered from the fee to cover the cost of participating in mutual-fund supermarket distribution program. Only some fund shareholders buy the fund shares through these programs, but all shareholders bear the expense-including those who purchased shares di-