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SIGNATURE WILLAIM J. KELLY
TITLE OFFICER
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Horace Mann Balanced Fund, Inc.
CIK Number - 715144
N-SAR Filing Fiscal year ending 12/31/96
EXHIBIT INDEX
EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION ITEM
I. Accountant's report on internal control 77.B
<PAGE>
KPMG PEAT MARWICK LLP
Peat Marwick Plaza
303 East Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601-9973
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Horace Mann Balanced Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Horace Mann
Balanced Fund, Inc. (the Fund) for the year ended December 31, 1996, we
considered its internal control structure, including procedures 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 the internal code
structure.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining an
internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and
judgments by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related
costs of internal control structure policies and procedures. Two of the
objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with
reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss
from unauthorized use or disposition and that transactions are executed in
accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to permit the
preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any system of internal control structure,
errors or irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any
evaluation of the structure 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 the internal control structure would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control structure 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 the specific internal control structure elements does not reduce to
a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities 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 the internal control structure, including procedures for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
December 31, 1996.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
January 23, 1997
