Responses by Indiana school business officials to a questionnaire (177 for a 88.5% return rate) identified 4 areas of a successful training program: (1) develop communication and human interaction skills; (2) establish mentor and internship programs; (3) continue periodic workshops; and (4) increase computer and technology literacy. (MLF)

At the University of Miami, a monthly written report assesses the status of about 120 measures of institutional effectiveness, with an oral report to administrators focusing on a smaller number of currently crucial organizational characteristics. The reports, kept confidential, help administrators monitor organizational progress. (MSE)

Prairie View A&M University's (Texas) experiences are offered as lessons in how to establish institutional priorities and procedures for retrenchment. Thirty-one specific cost-reduction strategies and policy changes are presented, and the evolution of a formal, institutionalized budget process, nonexistent until fiscal year 1991, is described.…

Provides basic information that a college or university chief financial officer (CFO) must know about enrollment management in order to understand how to work effectively with admissions and financial aid professionals to maximize tuition revenue and enroll the optimal class. Specific suggestions for CFO involvement are outlined. (Author/MSE)

One of the most critical components of the college or university chief financial officer's job is budget planning, especially using formulas. A discussion of funding formulas looks at advantages, disadvantages, and types of formulas used by states in budgeting for higher education, and examines how chief financial officers can position the campus…

This publication is designed to be a desktop reference and assist financial officers in both public and independent institutions of higher education in the preparation of consolidated financial statements. Chapter 1 covers generally accepted accounting principles and other accounting literature, and summarizes reporting rules of the Financial…

Value is the benefit derived from an enterprise's assets by its stakeholders. For colleges and universities, value is derived by students, faculty, staff, other knowledge seekers, alumni, donors, suppliers, and stakeholders. They derive value through experiencing the institution's programs, services, knowledge assets, and other resources. This…

Argues that trustees, finance officers, and other leaders of institutions of higher education must redefine and expand their traditional interactions beyond discussion of budgets and balance sheets if they are to guide change instead of being controlled by it. University leaders need to focus on their roles, share information differently, use…

A Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) program designed to instill workplace values in the institution's business and finance areas is described. Program elements include a focus on the values of a specific work group, acknowledgment of the relationship between work performance and institutional success, and recognition of the good work of…

With many impending retirements of school business officials, school districts and universities should collaborate in assuring smooth transitions in the nation's school business offices. Forward planning includes offering internships in the school business office and extensive cross-training for presently employed specialists. (MLF)

Several experts in the field of college financial administration offer their insights into the emerging relationship between high technology and financial management, focusing on the role of the institution's chief business officer. Topics include efficiency, cost effectiveness, organizational communication, homegrown vs. packaged software…

A discussion of the relationship between the university and industry in research looks at the challenge of balancing the academic institution's pursuit of entrepreneurial and sometimes precedent-setting industry relationships with its responsibility for ensuring the integrity of its scientific enterprise. Development of reasonable policy for…

Voluntary severance plans for college employees offer a possible solution to the problem of limiting labor costs in an inflationary economy, particularly when mandatory retirement is eliminated. The severance package must be carefully budgeted, constructed, and communicated to the employees, and the institution must be disciplined in carrying it…

Gina Kranitz, the new chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) board of directors, the first from the community college sector, is profiled, and her plans for the next year, including several major initiatives for the association, are discussed. (MSE)

Introduces the concept of college and university campus master planning, describes factors and actors in the process, discusses the relationship to capital budgeting, and offers a typical master planning and capital-budgeting process as illustration. Developing a comprehensive institutional master plan can profoundly affect the institution's…