The Chicago investment-research firm, best known for its mutual-fund ranking system, pledges to hold monthly "forums" to answer questions about its business from any investor or prospective investor.

Morningstar's answers to written questions will be publicly disseminated in Securities and Exchange Commission filings the first Friday of each month.

While Morningstar says it will still respond to some shareholder queries as needed, the company touts its comprehensive monthly report - which investor relations and other investment professionals call atypical - as a way to close the information gap between individuals and large investors.

Observers give Morningstar credit for taking a unique approach to leveling the playing field for investors. But, they say, the devil is in the details: Morningstar's initiative will be only as good as the information it provides.

To ask questions of Morningstar, people submit written questions by mail, e-mail or fax. The company said will respond to all relevant questions it receives, except for overlapping ones, which will be consolidated.

Its goal, Morningstar says in a regulatory filing, is to "communicate equally with all shareholders, without special treatment for large shareholders or research analysts."

Joseph Carcello, co-founder and director of research at University of Tennessee's Corporate Governance Center, said the usefulness of Morningstar's investor-communication policy "depends on the transparency, the openness, the candor with which questions are being answered."

Carcello said that shareholder access and corporate transparency are hot-button issues in the post-Enron world, and companies could be adopting shareholder-friendly policies "as nothing more than a show."

Alyssa Machold Ellsworth, managing director of the Council of Institutional Investors, also said Morningstar's approach to investor contact could be part of a "strong communication vehicle" - if the company offers substantive answers.

Morningstar so far has released one of its question-and-answer sessions, for queries received through May 31. In the first monthly report, released in an SEC filing last week, investors posed 21 questions about the company's estimates for long-term growth, hiring plans, potential for acquisitions, stock-option expensing, corporate governance and other matters. The questions came from a mix of professional and individual investors, Morningstar Chief Financial Officer Martha Dustin Boudos said.

Morningstar, which last month sold 7.6 million shares to the public for the first time, has in the past emphasized the theme of investor democracy, including choosing an auction process to sell shares in its initial public offering.

In selecting an auction method that lets small investors to compete for shares on equal footing with the money managers who traditionally control IPO stock allotment, Morningstar Chairman and Chief Executive Joe Mansueti said the company was seeking "equal access to shares and information," according to published reports.

The company's new question forum has a similar goal.

"Every investor and prospective investor can ask a question and have a reasonable expectation that it will be answered," said Boudos. "That's virtually unheard of."