The business of teaching and learning: an accounting perspective

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Ciancanelli
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Financial Measures ◽  
Public Benefit ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Perspective Drawing

A feature of globalisation is encouragement of universities to become more businesslike, including adoption of the type of accounting routines and regulations used by businesses. The question debated in higher education policy research is whether this focus on being businesslike is compatible with the statutory public benefit obligations of universities. This question is addressed from a financial-management perspective, drawing on Max Weber's discussion of the effects of accounting in business, governmental and not-for-profit organisations. 1 His approach is applied to three ideal-typical universities, focussing on differences in legal terms of reference and sources of funding. The article argues that the proposed reforms of public-sector accounting will make it difficult (if not impossible) to ascertain whether the publicbenefit aims of not-for-profit universities have been achieved. In addition, once installed, the business systems of accounting will encourage pecuniary rationality at the expense of the traditional value rationalities that ought to govern resource allocation in public-benefit organisations. The interaction between these effects introduces new risks, including the possibility that the controllers of universities may fail in their fiduciary obligations by wasting scarce resources on projects that, according to financial measures, appear profitable while neglecting those that have important public benefit and educational merit.

The meaning of doing

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin A Harper
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Private Information ◽  
York City ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Participatory Art ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit

Governments write us into being by compelling the public to fill in tiny boxes on forms revealing our most private information. These personal details become matters of public record. What if students thought about how writing in public administration shapes us? In the spring of 2015, my Public Administration class joined with New York City Historic Houses Trust and its LatimerNOW project a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the New York City Parks department whose goal is to reimagine the use of historic house museums, Louis Latimer House and Writing On It All (a participatory art not-for-profit exploring space and identity through writing) to learn public administration through participation in a public participatory art project. The immediate goal was for the students to use public administration theory to design, implement, participate and evaluate a one-day project. The hope was to offer a chance to practice on a real project in a safe space so that they could later use the skills once they were employed in public administration (and the stakes were higher). I engaged reflective practice to get them to move from theory to practical application, forcing them to defend and make explicit their administrative choices, thus offering a common vocabulary for critical conversations about the process and the results. In this article, I describe the experience and critically evaluate how reflective practice can add to the teaching and learning of public administration.

Financial Operations in Clubs

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clayton Barrows ◽  
Michael Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Financial Management ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Hospitality Organizations ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Unrelated Business

Most students have taken a module in accounting, finance or both. There are many aspects of both of these areas (and where they overlap) that apply to clubs. In this chapter, we will present the areas with which students should be familiar, and those which club managers have told us are important. This chapter will focus primarily on ‘big picture’ financial topics, that is, financial areas that are under the purview of the general manager, finance committee, controller, and/or the board of directors. However, club practices differ from those of other hospitality organizations in both large and small ways, many of which affect their financial procedures. For instance, many clubs do not accept cash payments (or credit cards) for services, only allowing members to charge services rendered to their accounts. This obviously impacts who pays, how they pay, cash flows, and systems and procedures. Another example is the importance of dues to clubs – clubs’ greatest source of revenues is usually in dues (quarterly or monthly payments by members). This means that clubs rely greatly on a source of funds that is a function of the number of members, not member activity. Another example of how club finances differ is that they have sources of revenues and expenses that are unique in the hospitality industry, such as initiation fees, ‘unused food minimums’ and ‘unrelated business income’. Add to this that the majority of clubs are operated on a not-for-profit basis, meaning that they manage their operations for the long-term sustainability of the organization and not for short term profit. All of this adds up to clubs representing a unique niche in the area of financial management.

scholarly journals SROI with Assurance Can Help Contributors Distinguish Hypocritical Organizations from Genuine NFPs

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-24
Author(s):  
Fuminobu Mizutani
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Welfare Economics ◽  
American Film ◽  
Public Benefit ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Influential Paper ◽  
Not For Profit Organizations ◽  
For Profit Organizations

The American film Poverty, Inc. alerted citizens to the fact that some “not-for-profit” organizations impair public benefit and seek profit. To avoid to contributing to such hypocritical organizations, this paper considers the possible use of SROI. SROI is an accounting concept used to evaluate NFPs. There is a problem called overhead aversion among contributors. It is hypothesized that spreading the use of assurance on SROI will face this problem. If so, a measure against this is necessary. This paper builds its theory on the existence of negative SROI as a tool to distinguish hypocritical organizations from genuine NFPs from the perspective of welfare economics, and argues that, theoretically, SROI can be negative. This paper then uses a questionnaire-based survey and conducts various statistical analysis to show that disclosure of SROI with assurance is practical. Nevertheless, it is also shown that assurance on SROI faces overhead aversion, a measure against which is provided by an influential paper. Spreading the use of SROI with assurance will trigger a shift from contribution to hypocritical organizations to contributions toward genuine NFPs. Such a shifts in contributions may also improve welfare. The main conclusion of this paper is that SROI with assurance can help contributors distinguish hypocritical organizations from genuine NFPs. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01253 Full Text: PDF

Review of Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations, 4th Edition

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Finkler ◽  
Robert M. Purtell ◽  
Thad D. Calabrese ◽  
Daniel L. Smith ◽  
Meagan M. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit Organizations ◽  
For Profit Organizations

The strategic use of pensions by not-for-profit organizations

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-414
Author(s):  
THAD DANIEL CALABRESE ◽  
ELIZABETH A. M. SEARING
Keyword(s):  
Financial Management ◽  
Pension Plan ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Management Objectives ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Net Assets ◽  
Earnings Targets ◽  
Pension Liabilities

AbstractDefined benefit pension plans are an important and unexplored aspect of not-for-profit compensation, covering between 15% and 21% of the estimated national not-for-profit workforce. Here we consider whether pension contributions and actuarial assumptions are mechanisms for achieving not-for-profit financial management objectives such as smoothing consumption, managing reported net earnings, and minimizing pension liabilities. The empirical results indicate a variety of these behaviors. Not-for-profit pension plan sponsors use accumulated net assets to smooth consumption. Further, not-for-profits manage reported profits downwards when they exceed expectations by increasing pension contributions, but both minimize contributions and liberalize actuarial assumptions when they underperform relative to their desired earnings targets.

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