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SIGNATURE KIM CARROLL
TITLE TREASURER
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
To the Shareholders and Board of Trustees
of H&Q Life Sciences Investors:
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of H&Q Life Sciences
Investors (a Massachusetts business trust), including the Schedule of
Investments as of September 30, 1999, and the related statements of operations
and cash flows for the year then ended, and the statements of changes in net
assets and financial highlights for the years presented. These financial
statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Funds
management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial
statements and financial highlights based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial
highlights are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a
test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of
September 30, 1999, by correspondence with the custodian. An audit also includes
assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by
management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.
We believe our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
As discussed in Note 5, the financial statements include investment
securities valued at $29,378,018 (22.3% of net assets) whose values have been
determined by the Board of Trustees in the absence of readily ascertainable
market values. However, because of the inherent uncertainty of valuation, the
Board of Trustees' determination of values may differ significantly from the
values that would have been used had a ready market existed for the securities
and the differences could be material.
In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights referred
to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of H&Q
Life Sciences Investors as of September 30, 1999, the results of its operations
and cash flows for the year then ended, and the changes in its net assets and
financial highlights for the years presented, in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles.
Boston, Massachusetts /s/ Arthur Andersen LLP
November 5, 1999
WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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