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<PAGE> PAGE 2
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SIGNATURE MICHAEL LUPER
TITLE TREASURER
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<CIK> 0000944690
<NAME> THE OLSTEIN FINANCIAL ALERT FUND
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> 12-MOS
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> AUG-31-1998
<PERIOD-START> SEP-01-1997
<PERIOD-END> AUG-31-1998
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 212,704,028
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 184,485,209
<RECEIVABLES> 41,895,559
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</TABLE>
Question 77D, 77Q2
On August 28, 1998, the Board of Trustees of the Olstein Financial Alert
Fund, authorized the Fund to enter into swap agreements relating to equity
securities or equity indices. It was also decided to segregate certain
liquid securities on the books of the Fund or its custodian to sufficiently
satisfy the Fund's obligations under the swap agreements.
Report of Independent Auditors
To the Board of Trustees of
The Olstein Financial Alert Fund
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of The
Olstein Financial Alert Fund (the Fund), for the year ended August 31,
1998, 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, and not to provide assurance
on the internal control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgements
by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs
of controls. Generally, controls that are relavant 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, 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 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 specific internal control components does not reduce to a
relatively low level the risk that errors 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 August 31, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Board
of Trustees and management of The Olstein Financial Alert Fund and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 2, 1998
