A 1997 survey asked 449 school business officials to identify the most essential skills for effective performance. SBOs primarily see themselves as managers of fiscal resources and of programs associated with fiscal resources. An additional responsibility is managing programs not instructionally related. Respondents felt the best training they…

School business officials should attend workshops and seminars to help them plan for retirement. When approaching retirement, SBOs should invest for low-risk growth, determine retirement goals, match insurance with needs, and decide when to stop full-time work. Retirees should invest for growth and income, withdraw assets at the right time, and…

Presents a view of ethics and morality as they may relate to the field of professional education. Defines ethics (identifiable values of individuals) and morals (identifiable values of social and culture-specific groups) as distinguishable but not separate and mutually exclusive normative theories of human conduct. (MLF)

When a practicing school business official teaches a college course, students can learn much about the real world of schools. Part-time or adjunct teaching at a college or university provides the official with a chance to refresh and extend his or her knowledge in the field. Offers suggestions for getting started, what to expect, and tips for…

Most facility and finance managers cannot adequately handle school infrastructure issues because they lack the tools to describe the problem appropriately. Facility accounting gives managers accurate deferral and projected replacement costs, using nationally recognized life-cycle and cost data. Facility accounting enables proper management of…

Reports on the July 2000 annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Highlights included a keynote luncheon speech by Colin Powell and general session speeches on such topics as the social effects of the technological revolution on campus, college-business partnerships, college-community partnerships,…

The revised edition of this handbook represents a concerted effort to bring school safety to the forefront of business managers' daily and long-range planning activities. Although statistics show few fatalities on school grounds, schools appear to have a high frequency and incident rate of nonfatal injuries. According to the introduction, school…

This chapter of "Principles of School Business Management" provides an overview of the history, regulation, and administration of school lunch programs and related food services. The historical review discusses factors prompting federal intervention in food programs for school children and cites legislation mandating funding. The chapter then…

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…

The model outlined here is one that has been used with great success in various districts to prepare an evaluation of the district's business operations. The key ingredient is local business executives who are usually quite willing to participate once the importance of the project and the quality of the team members are explained to them. Another…

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 personal computer is a valuable tool for school business officials. Useful software programs for day-to-day tasks include spreadsheets, word processing, and database. Figures give an example of a spreadsheet output and the formula used in each calculation. (MLF)

The mandated certification of North Carolina school fiscal officers is supported by a systematic professional development program that involves university faculty, officials of the state board of education, and representatives of the professional association. (Author)

The specific responsibilities of the school business official can be grouped into five major categories: (1) educational; (2) fiscal; (3) employee; (4) support services; and (5) other. (Author)

The Insurance Service Office's extensive revisions of its commercial general liability policy, including the "claims made" coverage, have been approved in most states. Before accepting a policy in today's insurance market, purchasers should be aware that defense costs can create problems during settlement negotiations. (CJH)