Cost Management at Higher Education Institutions – Cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia

Abstract

Higher education expenditures persistently rise due to various economic, demographic and socio-cultural reasons. This caused repeated calls for reforms of the economic model in the higher education sector and dramatically increased the importance of the economic evaluations in the last decades due to concerns for efficiency. The above academic challenges led us to pioneering an attempt to evaluate the capabilities of financial management tools for three Western Balkan countries, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. The precondition for successful reform processes is certainly a comprehensive and high-quality accounting information system that meets not only the requirements of external reporting but also the requirements of internal users, especially the management of HEIs. In that context, the main aim of this paper is to overview the legal and organizational accounting systems' characteristics focusing on external and internal reporting requirements, and study the level of development and usage of cost accounting at HEIs in selected countries. Therefore, our paper employs research methodology based on the survey conducted. The results show great differences in legal and organizational characteristics of accounting systems among the countries as well as in the development stages of cost accounting systems, which mainly focus on inconsistent overhead allocation as well as different accounting basis usage. The research results confirm poorly conceptualised and structured reporting of accounting information for management purposes, offering several applicable platforms for creation of performance management approaches and strategies in the public sector.

Social responsibility and strategic orientation of higher education - Cases of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…This shows that HE organizations partially achieve some SR goals, while SR is not yet well integrated in their strategic orientation (Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016). Second, the increased need for the rationalization and assuring financial stability of HE institutions (Kostić et al, 2017) significantly contribute to the current dominant influence of striving for economics results, which have a significant influence on HE organizations' strategic orientation.…”

“…Second, least important is the concern for economic results, which reflects the "non-profit" nature of the studied HE, which are financed from state. But, recently due to restrictions and limitations of the funds for HE (Kostić et al, 2017), greater or at least equal importance should be given to the financial aspect of HE organizations. Deans of HE organizations should rethink their SR goals (Hoover & Harder, 2015) and need to put more focus on concern for financial results, due to severe conditions, in order to prevent and/or diminish the negative influence on financial performance and the results of HE in the near future.…”

Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Empirical Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…The analysis, thereof, is largely qualitative in nature-with findings presented as recommendations and ways forward for its higher education development. In 2005, the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education made the first step in setting the process through which systems try to ensure that quality is achieved and continuously improved [20]. This was by establishing widely quality-related values, expectations, good practices, and its assurance by institutions [22].…”

“…Bosnia and adopted a new state level Framework Law on Higher Education in 2007 after the signing onto the Bologna Process [20]. The country introduced three cycles of studies with corresponding European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) in credits.…”

“…Specifically, on education, the higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina include both public and private institutions [19]. The public higher education intuitions are established in accordance with the Framework Law on Higher Education [20], the county's law on higher education for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Law on Higher Education for the Republic of Srpska [20][21][22].…”