Accountants have urged "harmonization" of standards between the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, recommending similar reporting of like transactions. However, varying display of similar accounting events does not necessarily indicate disharmony. The potential for problems because of…

This article describes activity-based costing (ABC) and how this tool may help management understand the costs of major activities and identify possible alternatives. Also discussed are the traditional costing systems used by higher education and ways of applying ABC to higher education. (GLR)

It is argued that recent changes in accounting standards only change the way in which institutions of higher education report finances, not necessarily the way transactions are accounted for. While fund accounting may no longer be an appropriate term for the accounting approach used, it represents appropriate concepts of stewardship and…

It is argued that colleges and universities have created extremely complex and convoluted accounting/reporting systems using fund accounting. Recent changes in accounting standards should be seen as an opportunity to streamline many of the processes that have been designed to support funds, allowing introduction of other approaches. (MSE)

A survey of 120 top independent national liberal arts colleges ranked in "U.S. News and World Report" compared the structure of their financial reports to those of publicly held corporations. Results indicate that the colleges' forms strongly resemble those of corporations, but are not as readable as the corporate forms. (MSE)

This book presents ways in which school administrators can identify and redirect school funds to improve student performance. It quantifies the degree of overall financial inequality in the country using figures for all districts and shows how education dollars are currently spent, why these dollars are ineffectual, and how different and more…

Different approaches employed to automate the administrative recordkeeping processes within academic departments at three University of California campuses are contrasted: the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. The results are based on campus…

By 1992, all states had adopted the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's (GASB) Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). However, not all governments had implemented them by that date. Points out the advantages and weaknesses of GAAP. Concludes that the uniformity in accounting rules give greater assurance that the information…

Offers a detailed discussion of school-level data collection on educational expenditures and research allocations. Describes some implications of this trend for school business administrators. Suggests that the long-term benefits of these new data far outweigh the short-term costs of their collection. (12 references) (MLF)

Outlines some of the issues and practices currently shared by higher education and health care industries, including public dissent, declining government support, shifting of the distribution of expenses, applicability of revenue-based budgeting, debate over cost and quality, merger trends, changing traditions, concern for development of a…

Describes and evaluates four alternatives for planning and budgeting for capital reinvestment for college and university facilities: physical plant auditing; a depreciation-based approach; percentage of current replacement value; and facility subsystem modeling, or life-cycle modeling. Each has advantages and limitations in budgeting for and…

This volume provides comparative data for faculty salaries in public and private colleges and universities, based on two surveys of 738 and 485 institutions conducted in 1988-89 and 1992-93 respectively. Data are provided for the following disciplines: Accounting; Anthropology; Biological Sciences/Life Sciences; Business Administration and…

This volume provides comparative data for faculty salaries in public and private colleges, based on an annual survey of over 700 colleges and universities. Data cover the following 15 disciplines: accounting, agribusiness and agricultural production, anthropology, architecture and environmental design, area and ethnic studies, audiology and speech…