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We develop a new measure of relative debt transparency by comparing the amount of state debt reported in the annual Census survey and the amount reported in the statistical section of the state Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). GASB 44 requires states to start reporting their total debt in the CAFR statistical section in FY 2006. However, states are allowed to use accounting choices to exclude some dependent agencies' debt, which contributes to a gap between the two data sources. The regression results suggest that the gap tends to increase when states face greater fiscal stress or less political competition. Such patterns are not found in the pre-GASB 44 period.

A long standing debate among policymakers as well as researchers is whether and how funding affects the quality of education. Often missing from the discussion is information about the costs of providing education at the school level and below, yet such information could impart a better indication of the linkages between outcomes and resources than is available with more macro-level data. In addition, because No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and state accountability systems often require reporting of performance at the grade or school level, micro-level cost information would be useful to school administrators as they try to allocate resources productively. In this paper, we analyze the challenges involved in establishing a system to track costs at the school, grade, and subject level that will fit the needs of both internal and external users. To begin, we review the literature on cost accounting that is relevant to micro-level costs and the research that analyzes sub-district level resources. Next, we describe general challenges that arise in reporting at the level of the school and below and we then discuss school-level reporting in practice. We follow with a case study of an improved reporting system that links resource use, student demographic characteristics, and student outcomes at the school, grade and subject level. We conclude with recommendations for states when constructing such systems. The following tables are appended: (1) Comparison of Approaches in Addressing the Challenges of Producing School-Level Reports; (2) Sources of Data for Pennsylvania School-Level Reports; (3a) Example of School Summary Report for Sample Elementary School; and (3b) Example of Fifth Grade Summary Report for Sample Elementary School.

Many front-line managers who are assuming more financial responsibility for their organizations find traditional cost accounting inadequate for their needs and are turning to Activity Based Costing (ABC). ABC is not a financial reporting system to serve the needs of regulatory agencies, but a tool that tracks costs from the general ledger statement to work activities and then to the actual output of those activities. It mirrors the work of people and equipment; it documents costs as an organization actually consumes financial resources. ABC seeks to answer four very different questions: (1) What activities are being performed by the organization? (2) How much does it cost to perform those activities? (3) Why does the organization need to perform those activities? and (4) How much of an organization's money does each activity consume in the production and delivery of products and services? The paper presents a case study of how ABC was applied to a communications center at a community college in order to reduce costs. Finally, the paper details why such factors as the cost structures of schools, the pace of change, and the cost of processing data have created an interest in ABC. (DFR)

A program cost study was conducted at a large midwestern university to determine department-level expenses and revenues associated with the mission-critical activities of instruction, research, and service. The study (or program) is based on a model for allocating costs, called responsibility centered management, that has been used for nearly a decade to allocate campus revenues and expenses to academic units, and an instructional effort report/capacity model used to examine total faculty workloads. The study/program was conducted at a large, midwestern, urban public university and provides campus, school, and department-level cost information for teaching, research, and service activities. The study also allocates all levels of overhead (departmental, school, and central administration) to the foregoing activities within each academic unit. Direct and overhead costs can be evaluated separately or together to formulate plans and budgets. The information generated by this model is used with indicators of program quality and accessibility as an integral part of the campus planning and budgeting process. (Contains 26 references.) (CH)

This study examined the possibility that not only women but also men, face a chilly classroom climate when they are students in a major that is considered nontraditional for their gender. Male and female junior and senior students (total n=426) majoring in accounting, education, engineering, or nursing at one university responded to the College Classroom Climate Survey. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationships between the independent variables of gender and academic discipline and the interaction of gender and academic discipline and the dependent variable of perception of classroom climate. Findings indicated that, regardless of their gender, students in these majors did not perceive the climate to be "chilly." However, there was a difference in perception of classroom climate as a function of major. Specifically, both education and nursing students perceived a "warmer" classroom climate than accounting and engineering students. The pattern was the same for both males and females since there was no interaction of gender and academic discipline. (Contains 20 references.) (Author/DB)

Students and the institution have benefited through the installation of a flexible approach to learning that focuses on a portfolio of articulating courses in the accounting area of the Business School at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland. A suite of courses offers students with different abilities and resources a number of options that lead them to a certificate, diploma, degree, or professional qualification. By providing instruction at different levels and by different modes of study, students can choose their route to suit their circumstances and are given opportunities not available through traditional degree or professional courses. The articulated courses were developed in response to the needs of increasingly diversified students, such as women returning to the work force, university graduates changing fields, and students who did not go on to further studies after high school but who were qualified to do so and returned later. They were also a response to the institution's need to attract students and to prepare them for professional careers. As a first step in developing the program, the business school developed a common first year across its degrees in accounting, business studies, and commerce. Professional courses were also made more accessible while continuing to meet accrediting requirements of the accounting profession. The articulation program has proved popular with students and most graduates of the program have been able to obtain related positions within 6 months of graduation. (KC)

Recent demographic, economic and political trends have drawn attention to the issue of effectiveness and efficiency in the use of resources in the education sector. In the context of the renewed interest for the optimisation of resource use, this paper attempts to review the literature on budgeting and accounting in OECD education systems. The analysis of accounting and budgeting in education systems provides an understanding of decision-making processes regarding education policies and projects, in terms of prioritisation, planning, allocation, monitoring and evaluation of resource use. The subjects covered in the paper also help to understand how resources are distributed. Greater requests for transparency from citizens are indeed pressuring governments to justify how public resources are allocated, and which variables determine the levels of funding flowing to schools. Finally, accounting standards and budgeting methods are studied in the current paper as they may also have an impact on effectiveness and efficiency of resource use. This report first explores governance questions underlying budgeting and accounting. Subsequently, the report reviews procedures and tools adopted by countries for budgeting and accounting. Finally, it presents methods for evaluation and monitoring of resource use. The paper attempts to identify trends and commonalities in country practices in primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education; however, there are great variations on the studied topics across and within countries.

This paper is about the funding status of teachers' retirement pension schemes. Its goal is to relate the accounting for the funding of these pension obligations to the endemic, systematic, and fundamentally fraudulent system of accounting our country uses to assess the financial positions of federal, state, and local government as well as many financial and non-financial private enterprises. Indeed, the paper argues that fraudulent accounting and misrepresentation is the defining element of Ponzi schemes and the real reason we find such schemes repugnant. Furthermore, any public or private enterprise that engages in fundamentally fraudulent accounting can fairly be characterized as running a Ponzi scheme. In this regard, it seems fully appropriate to characterize many, if not most, teachers' retirement plans as Ponzi schemes. (Contains 17 footnotes.)

Most public elementary and high school teachers are covered by health insurance provided by their employer while they are employed. In most cases, these health plans are managed at the state level. At retirement, teachers with sufficient years of service are allowed to remain in the health plan. Retiree health plans for teachers vary widely across the country with some states paying the full premium for the retired teacher while other states require that the retiree pay 100 percent of the premium. Recent changes in the accounting rules now mandate that public sector employers report the accrued liabilities associated with these plans. This paper documents the unfunded liabilities of teacher retiree health plans in the various states, examines the reasons for these differences, and considers how these plans might evolve in the future. (Contains 4 tables and 6 endnotes.)