To the Shareholders and Board of Trustees of
the Fifth Third Funds:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of the Fifth
Third Funds for the year ended July 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 the Fifth Third Funds 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. Those
controls include the safeguarding of assets against unauthorized aquisition,
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
considered to be material weaknesses as defined above as of July 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management
and the Board of Trustees of the Fifth Third Funds 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/ ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP
Cincinnati, Ohio,
September 6, 2000
