ERNST & YOUNG ERNST & YOUNG LLP Phone 513.621-6454
1300 Chiquita Center www.ey.com
250 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Report of Independent Auditors
To the Shareholders and
Board of Trustees of Countrywide Strategic Trust
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Countrywide
Strategic Trust for the year ended March 31, 2000, we considered its 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 Countrywide Strategic 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 generally accepted
accounting principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, error 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 it may become inadequate because of
changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the 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 at March
31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Trustees of Countrywide Strategic Trust, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone
other than these specified parties.
/s/ ERNST & YOUNG LLP
May 22, 2000
