FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES

SYLLABUS

William Holmes, Office W4-141/31

Phone, 617-287-7328; Fax, 617-287-7274; E-Mail, william.holmes@umb.edu

Web Page: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/william_holmes/

PURPOSE

The purpose of this competency is to introduce basic concepts of financial management as they are applied to human service agencies. You will learn how to develop and critique budgets, monitor expenditures, maintain accountability, assess financial status and cash flow of an agency, and address special issues appropriate for not-for-profit agencies.

REQUIREMENTS

Assignments. There are four assignments for demonstrating this competency.

1. Developing a budget for a case study agency and a justification thereof.

2. Propose procedures for monitoring expenditures of the case study agency and providing accountability for the expenditures.

3. Developing and justifying an hypothetical balance sheet for the case study agency.

4. Developing and justifying a cash flow statement for the case study agency, addressing issues unique to not-for profit agencies.

Readings. Readings are assigned web pages, to be read prior to the topic for which they are assigned. The links can be found on my Instructional Web Site. The URL is :

http://www.faculty.umb.edu/william_holmes/classes.htm Click on the Financial Management option in the Menu at the top of the page.

Discussions. Students are expected to participate in discussions. For each session, a student should have identified one issue they consider important to that topic and pose a question for that issues. Students may also pose questions regarding assigned web page content or other issues related to that week’s topic.

Plagiarism. Students may not copy other’s work, unless they are working as a group and submit the results as a group. All sources quoted or paraphrased should be cited. Complete references are needed for electronic documents.

DISABILITY

Students who have a disability for which they wish an accommodation are encouraged to discuss this with the instructor.

TOPICS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. DEVELOPING BUDGETS

Reading (see web links)

3. REFINING BUDGETS

Reading (see web links)

PRESIDENTS DAY

4. PLANNING COSTS

Reading (see web links)

Assignment 1 Due

5. CAPITAL AND LONG-TERM EXPENDITURES

Reading (see web links)

6. MANAGING RESOURCES

Reading (see web links)

SPRING BREAK

7. ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONTROL

Reading (see web links)

Assignment 2 Due

8. SELF-ASSESSMENT AND BALANCE SHEETS

Reading (see web links)

Self-study

9. BALANCE SHEETS (CONT’D) AND CASH FLOW STATEMENTS

Reading (see web links)

10. NOT-FOR-PROFIT ACCOUNTING

Reading (see web links)

11. GOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTING

Reading (see web links)

Assignment 3 Due

12. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES

Reading(see web links)

13. SUMMARY AND REVIEW

Assignment 4 Due