State databases offer researchers the opportunity to conduct research using data collected by states. These databases contain financial, demographic, and accountability data. Accessing and acquiring data from these repositories, though, can offer challenges to scholars interested in conducting research. This brief describes the type of data…

Forensic versus traditional accounting and auditing are compared and contrasted. Evidence gathering is detailed. Forensic science and fraud symptoms are explained. Criminalists, expert testimony and corporate governance are presented.

This annual report presents 1996-97 financial information on 20 degree-granting universities and related institutions in Ontario, Canada. The report first explains the general guidelines and reporting requirements used in compiling the report, including university accounting procedures, the principles of fund accounting involved, and definitions…

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…

A public utility company uses laser wands to read bar-coded labels on furniture and equipment. The system allows an 80 percent savings of the time required to create reports for inventory control. (MLF)

Stresses the importance of common understandings of cost definitions and data collection in order to create reliable databases with optimal utility for inter-institutional analysis. Examines definitions of common expenditure categories, discusses cost-accumulation rules governing financial reporting, and explains differences between direct costs…

The Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Schools (MPS) recently implemented a new, state-designed accounting system, called the Wisconsin Elementary and Secondary School Accounting System (WESSAS), based on guidelines proposed in the U.S. Office of Education's Handbook II. This report describes and discusses that implementation and provides numerous…

Niles Township School District 219, Skokie, Illinois, has rebuilt its personnel and payroll program. The new system provides a data bank for storage of any and all information required by both the personnel and payroll departments on each district employee. (Author/MLF)

The Model Accounting Plan (MAP) is a demographic accounting system designed to meet three major goals related to improving planning, evaluation, and monitoring of special education programs. First, MAP provides local-level data for administrators and parents to monitor the progress, transition patterns, expected attainments, and associated costs…

The first years of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) pilot project to collect benchmark data on college costs and service levels are discussed, focusing on lessons learned, needs identified, current use of the results, and the project's place in the association's long-term research plan. (MSE)

Describes the statewide computerized system developed in Minnesota following the 1976 enactment of the Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (UFARS) law. UFARS includes provisions for an advisory council responsible for recommending accounting and reporting procedures, and seven data processing centers to serve all 560 Minnesota…

This volume provides supplementary data to the annual report for 43 provincially assisted universities, colleges, and church-related institutions of higher education in Ontario, Canada. The information includes further details concerning various sources of revenue, including grants from the major funding agencies of the federal government, as well…

This annual report presents 1996-97 financial information on 22 church-related colleges, universities, and seminaries in Ontario, Canada, which are also affiliated with public universities. Fourteen tables present the data in summary form and include: (1) combined revenue and expense and changes in fund balances; (2) revenue and additions by…

This handbook is a guide to accounting for school activity funds. It is designed for use by individual schools and school systems throughout the United States. The project was undertaken to meet the increasing concern of State and local school officials and the general public for safe ands economical handling of school activity money which amounts…

This handbook is a guide to property accounting for local and State school systems. It classifies and defines the specific items of information about land, buildings, and equipment that need to be comparable among local school systems and among States, and presents additional terminology essential to their effective use. As such, it is concerned…