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Back in June, we reported that Oppenheimer Capital Income showed a "bank overdraft" (of about $1.5 million) on its financial statements.....Since we had never seen anything like this before, and it didn't seem to be part of the fund's normal investment strategy, we contacted an Oppenheimer "Media Relations" person and asked for an explanation.....Apparently, we aren't considered part of the media, because Oppenheimer completely stonewalled us, and we still have no idea why this overdraft was incurred, or whether fund shareholders incurred any cost as a result of it.....Recently, a diligent FundAlarm reader took a look at bank overdrafts at all Oppenheimer funds, and the results continue to surprise and puzzle us......As you will note from the following table, the most recent financial statements for eleven Oppenheimer funds showed "bank overdrafts," in amounts ranging from about $600 to just over $3 million:

Oppenheimer fundAmount of "bank overdraft"
(per fund's most recent
annual report)
Bond$3,046,871
Capital Preservation378,513
Emerging Technologies2,639,908
Gold & Special Minerals238,715
High Yield88,534
International Bond633,310*
International Growth2,130,220
International Small Company586
Quest Value672,572
Total Return Bond259,454
Value64,890
* Includes a regular bank overdraft of $89,592
and, just to show that Oppenheimer is versatile, a "bank overdraft-foreign currencies" of $543,718

Even more astonishing -- jaw-dropping, in fact -- was the "overdraft" reported by Oppenheimer Strategic Income in its March 31, 2004 semi-annual report: $66,991,980 (yes, that's an "overdraft" of almost sixty-seven million dollars).....To the accountant in us, an "overdraft" means that a mistake was made......Maybe we're wrong.....And maybe someone, clearly not us, will be able to pry the explanation, or the excuse, out of Oppenheimer.....Please let us know if you do.
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