EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit A: Attachment to item 77B:
Accountants report on internal control
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Exhibit A:
Report of Independent Accountants
To the Board of Trustees of
Third Avenue Trust
In planning and performing our audits of the financial statements of
Third Avenue Value Fund, Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund and Third
Avenue Real Estate Value Fund (constituting Third Avenue Trust), for
the year ended October 31, 2000, we considered their internal control,
including control activities for safeguarding securities, in order to
determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the
requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on internal
control.
The management of Third Avenue Trust is responsible for establishing
and maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility,
estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls. Generally, controls
that are relevant to an audit pertain to the entity's objective of
preparing financial statements for external purposes that are fairly
presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States of America. Those controls include the
safeguarding of assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or
disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or fraud
may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of
internal control to future periods is subject to the risk that
controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or
that the effectiveness of their design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in internal control that might be material weaknesses
under standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the
design or operation of one or more of the internal control components
does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that misstatements
caused by error or fraud in amounts that would be material in relation
to the financial statements being audited may occur and not be
detected within a timely period by employees in the normal course of
performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no matters
involving internal control and its operation, including controls for
safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as
defined above as of October 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the
Board of Trustees, management and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone
other than these specified parties.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
December 1, 2000
