The regulator said that businesses must be clear so that retail investors can compare charges before making decisions on where to invest.
The FCA looked at marketing information made available to UK retail consumers by 11 firms.
It found examples of firms who provided their customers a consistent, combined charge figure across all relevant documents and platforms, but said some referred to different charge figures across multiple documents, making effective comparisons difficult.

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FCA director of supervision, Clive Adamson, said:
 "We have found examples of good practice being exhibited by firms in providing clear and consistent description of fund charges across different marketing documents.
"We believe that it is important for investors to clearly understand and compare charges across the market as this, together with fund performance and risk profile, are the key areas that they should look at.
"We are therefore today encouraging all firms to respond to our findings and adopt the clarity and consistency we believe to be important."
Among the key findings the FCA found were:
• some firms did not provide investors with a clear, combined figure for charges in their marketing material or on websites
• poor descriptions of administration charges that did not accurately reflect the operation of the charge

The FCA said consumers were likely to find it easier to understand and compare charges if all firms involved in providing funds to investors consistently used one combined charges figure, such as the ongoing charges figure for certain funds (UCITS), in all documents.
Using the annual management charge in some marketing material and a combined figure in other documents may have confused investors and hinder comparing charges, the regulator said.
The regulator will follow up the review through its routine supervision and work with the Investment Management Association.