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…

Discusses the use of undergraduate accounting students to assist the one-person internal audit department at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in conducting a low-cost audit of the school. The audit, conducted as part of the accounting department's Auditing II course, helped students develop interviewing and documentation skills and…

Explains to college/university business officers how to comply with Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statements Nos. 34, 35, and 9, which require the direct method of presenting cash flows from operating activities and reconciliation of operating cash flows to operating income by fiscal year 2001. Institutions are urged to begin immediately…

It is argued that colleges and universities can use direct allocation costing to provide quantitative information needed for decision making. This method of analysis requires institutions to modify traditional ideas of costing, looking to the private sector for examples of accurate costing techniques. (MSE)

Two accounting strategies for classifying college or university endowment losses are compared: reduction of permanently restricted net assets and reduction of unrestricted net assets. The approaches differ in their effects on classification of net assets only when capital losses on endowment investments bring the fund below the level required in…

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)

A discussion of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's new accounting standard No. 117, which concerns colleges and universities as nonprofit organizations, looks at new provisions and reporting requirements. Methods for producing the required cash flow statement are outlined, and the use of cash flow ratios is examined. (MSE)

In addressing the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Board, the National Association of College and University Business Officers' president urged the accounting standards boards to work together to establish a multiyear accounting research agenda for higher education. (Author/MSE)

Summarizes highlights of the Government Accounting Standards Board's proposed standard for college and university accounting, known as GASB 35. Topics addressed include enterprise fund financial statements, reporting of state appropriations, segment reporting, effective dates, and infrastructure assets. (MSE)

A university's financing choices cover many shades of gray. Some off-balance-sheet financing uses no debt capacity, while others represent or imply full financial commitment. Many others fall in between. The choices made by a number of institutions in financing facility expansions or improvements are discussed, and the Moody's Investors Service…

Many university athletics departments are running significant deficits, making critical full reporting on all expenses, by sport. Anything less than full disclosure by sport of all related expenses misleads institutional leaders, students, alumni, and legislators into believing that football and men's basketball teams can bankroll…

A discussion of federal cost accounting standards (CAS) chronicles briefly the history of CAS, notes other pertinent regulations applicable to higher education, summarizes the initial standards drafted for colleges and universities, and examines disclosure statement requirements and implications of noncompliance. (MSE)

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…

Planning for and implementing the Financial Accounting and Standards Board's Statement of Financial Accounting Standards for nonpension retirement benefits gives colleges and universities an opportunity to assess and revise their retiree health benefit plans. However, assessment of the current plan, objectives of changes, projected impact, and…

Colleges and universities historically have ignored the capital costs associated with institutional administration in their estimates of overall and per-student costs. This neglect leads to distortion of data, misunderstandings, and uninformed decision making. The real costs should be recognized in institutional accounting. (MSE)