Once again, CIC held a one-day workshop for presidents immediately following the Presidents Institute, this year focusing on financial management. Co-sponsored with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the event attracted 63 presidents.
    Presenters included current and former presidents who had been chief financial officers, as well as representatives from Moody’s Investors Service and NACUBO and other experts. The sessions covered ways to assess the financial health of institutions; the critical relationships that the president has with the chief financial officer, business staff, and board of trustees; and key decision processes such as budgeting and controls. Other topics included making maximum use of financial statements, understanding cash flow, managing
debt and endowment, discounting tuition, outsourcing, and determining compensation.
    Participating presidents pinpointed several areas where additional assistance, perhaps by CIC, would be useful. For example, many asked for additional guidance on the subtleties of balance sheets and of income and expense reports. A number of presidents hope
for better access to comparative financial data, especially for institutions not seeking bond ratings from such groups as Moody’s, as well as for recommendations on key ratios and specific benchmarks.

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Last updated: March 2003
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