A sample of school business leaders was surveyed to document their experiences with and opinions about the Certificate for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Analyzes responses from 90 participating districts and 80 nonparticipating districts from a total of 36 states. (MLF))

Success for the business administrator depends largely on ability to identify priorities and to direct time, energy, and know-how accordingly. This study attempted to find out the priorities of the tasks of accounting and financial planning for school business administrators and the precise nature of the school business administrator's…

Summarizes techniques for interpreting the balance sheet and the statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes-in-fund-balance sections of the comprehensive annual financial report required of all school districts. Uses three tables to show intricacies involved and focuses on analyzing favorable and unfavorable budget variances. (MLH)

To increase the success rate and promote more participation in the Association of School Business Officials' Certificate of Excellence Program, last year's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) submitted by every third successful submitter (N=28) and all unsuccessful submitters (N=23) were examined for deficiencies. (MLF)

The formats of the school budget and annual financial report are usually prescribed by state regulations. Creative use of data already collected for other purposes will give meaning to a district's financial story. Lists recommended tables for the statistical section of a comprehensive annual financial report. (MLF)

The state-of-the-art of financial analysis for academic units within institutions of higher education is evaluated with attention directed to: how the cost of an academic unit is determined, how revenue is identified with academic units, how costs are analyzed, how revenues and expenditures are projected, and how the financial efficiency of an…