This paper presents a standard costing model appropriate for determining real costs of programs which are not entirely self-contained. Central to the model is the concept of allocation pools involving resources which are not attributable to a single program or program component, but whose costs must be shared by any given program which is part of…

This guide to zero base budgeting (ZBB) offers information intended to be useful to those implementing this system in schools. Beginning with an explanation of zero base budgeting, the paper then enumerates the advantages of such a system. Zero base budgeting design is then explained as well as the assumptions that underlie the system. Suggested…

In response to the nationwide trend toward increased financial pressures and growing demands by state legislatures for accountability, several large universities (including Indiana University) have adopted various forms of "responsibility center budgeting" (RCB), which has fiscal implications for programs in speech communication and…

Designed to help college administrators read and understand accounting statements, this paper provides tips about danger signals that may be evident in financial statements and that may call for speedy action. The first statement examined is a balance sheet; i.e., a summation of all of the possessions and debts of a business or entity, which shows…

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)

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…

To help improve school district financial management, the Association of School Business Officials at its 1980 annual meeting held a special session consisting of 20 "mini-workshops" about successful, field-proven practices in school budgeting, accounting, auditing, and other financial tasks. This document provides summaries of the…

As part of a symposium that examined the utility of adapting the techniques of cost-effectiveness analysis for curriculum and program planning in higher education, this paper examines the methodology and procedures of the technique. A checklist outlines some of the problems and potential and some guidelines are suggested for cost-effectiveness…

Education is both a service enterprise and a product enterprise. Each view has direct bearing on the program structure that ties budget, accounting, and reporting data into classification matrices capable of computerized analysis. Service is defined as an activity or as a tangible object delivered to a specified client. An educational product is a…

Monitoring school budget expenditures is as important as budgeting. School boards should decide which broad financial policies will provide control of expenditures, what financial tools to use in monitoring expenditures, and what areas outside of the budget should be monitored. A board's financial policy ought to deal with the line item transfers,…

Hollister Elementary School was one of several schools in its district to adopt a reform agenda initiated by the new district superintendent in 1995. This report tells the story of the school's adoption, implementation, and funding of the Success for All reading and Math Wings programs. The salient point is that the staff at the school managed to…

This paper provides a history and analysis of educational finance in Wyoming. It offers a summary of the funding model that is currently in place and that has been challenged in court--the fourth such challenge in the past 30 years. The article focuses on the current litigation. It discusses the funding formula that was adopted by the state…

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…

Because of the nature of school district cash flows, there are opportunities for investing surplus cash and the necessity to borrow cash in deficit periods. The term structure of interest rates makes the manual determination of the optimal financial package impossible. In this research, an integer programming model of this cash management process…

Although other factors are important in generating financial support for education, two factors appear to dominate public concern: the quality of educational products, and efficiency in the use of financial resources. The greatest concern for the quality of educational products is in the area of academic achievement, as reflected in standardized…