Despite growing concerns about the harmful effects of "hardening" schools through increased police and surveillance on school campuses, little research has examined trends in financial resources allocated to these programs, practices, and personnel. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing trends and patterns in school…

Bob Newsome was thrilled to land the job as head of Whitecastle Country Day--a small K-12 school with a solid reputation in the area. He worked hard to learn as much as possible about the school in advance of his start date. He spent time with faculty and staff, and made an effort to overlap frequently with Andrew Reynolds, the long-serving,…

Studies of existing best practices cannot determine whether the current "best" schooling practices could be even better, less costly, or more effective and/or improve at a faster rate, but we can discover a cost effective menu of schooling options and each item's minimum cost through market accountability experiments. This paper describes…

Accounting controls are primarily concerned with methods and procedures that safeguard an entity's assets and ensure the reliability of its financial records. This article discusses internal control objectives as applied to educational institutions, outlines specific steps necessary to develop an effective internal control system, and mentions…

This edition of the manual incorporates the 1977 amendments, which were developed by the members of the Accounting and Budgeting Research committees of the California Association of School Business Officials in cooperation with the California State Department of Education staff. The amendments clarify the definitions and improve the methods of…

In 1984 the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, created to solidify accounting principles for government entities, enumerated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles endorsed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Council on Governmental Accounting. These principles have recently been approved for school…

The listed guidelines for keeping track of petty cash in the schools are organized into three areas--making sure each school has an adequate method of collecting and banking money, adopting a simple and uniform bookkeeping system, and promoting fiscal responsibility. (IRT)

Describes several options for school districts to comply with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 34 and 35 that require school districts to inventory their fixed assets and measure the value of these assets over their estimated life for inclusion in their financial statements. Information about GASB Statements 34 and 35 is…

The purposes of this handbook are to help improve internal systems for auditing funds received from student activities and to help ensure that school board policies and good business practices are being followed. After brief introductory sections, the document discusses internal auditing functions and standards and notes the internal auditing…

A successful management communication tool. (Author)

School districts can economize by central purchasing; standardizing equipment, materials, and supplies that are in general use; and listing supplies in a supply catalog. (MLF)

Just as ice cream comes in many flavors for different tastes, fund balances need to be reserved and designated to meet school district plans and commitments. This article examines accounting principles and other issues determining the segregation and size of a school district's fund balance, a legally restricted reserve that can affect the…

Alerts public school business officials to a financial reporting concepts statement to be issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board in late 1986. The new directive will outline four objectives concerned with accountability procedures, resource management and compliance information, operating results, and future financial capabilities.…

The background and purpose of a publication by the National Council on Governmental Accounting (NCGA) is important to school administrators because the accounting principles are being incorporated in a publication for school systems. (Author/MLF)

The primary purpose of this handbook is to reflect changes that have occurred in governmental accounting and educational finance since 1973. Major emphasis is placed on defining account classifications that provide meaningful financial management information. After describing the need for and advantages of a proposed account classification system,…