Fiscal Managment and the Athletic Director
Voltmer and Esslinger assert that financial management of an athletic department is one of the most important duties of the physical education administrator. The physical education administrator is responsible for making all decisions dealing with budget, income, expenditures and accounting aspects for all levels of the athletic department (interschool and interscholastic). Efficient financial management is important in any field; however, when dealing with public funds, no teacher or administrator can afford to be careless or ignorant (Voltmer & Esslinger, 1967). Therefore, physical administrators must employ simple and effective procedures when addressing the financial management of the athletic program.
The largest aspect of the physical education administrators fiscal duties is budget. The physical education administrator is responsible for creating a budget for both the physical education (school) and athletic (sports) departments. Therefore, two separate budgets are required. It is important to note that the budget for the physical education department (school) is generally set by the county board of education. This budget is funded by tax dollars. On the other hand, the athletic (sports) budget has to be funded by fundraisers and there is no limit to the set amount of money that can be spent.
Creating the physical education (school) budget is threefold. The first thing to consider is what type of improvements to the physical plant is going to be made. Examples of improvements to the physical plant are adding fixed equipment and/or the renovation of existing materials. This process is called capital outlay.
The second step is to determine the type of expend...
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...hile it is important that the administrator monitor the amount of money spent and the amount of money to be spent, he/she is not responsible for the overall account of the budget. Most schools employ a secretary to handle the accounting duties. This person writes the checks, makes deposits, and balances the general ledger. They are also responsible for providing paperwork when audited.
As stated previously, anyone dealing with public funds can not be careless. Therefore the physical education administrator must closely keep track of his/her budget. They must also be able to have a good sense of what is needed and what is not needed when creating the budget. While they are solely responsible for creating the budget, they can not do it alone. They have to be able to trust the coaches and that work under them to be responsible when requesting budget items.
Critics feel that the term amateurism is only a term used in collegiate sports to show the distinguish the difference between professional and collegiate so that they don’t have to pay college athletes. College athletes are just as talented and just as exposed as professional athletes. The argument is for there to be a share in the profits for wage compensation amongst players is know as pay-for-play. College athletics is a corporate enterprise that is worth millions of dollars in revenue. Pay-for-play is an assumption that colleges and universities receive huge revenues from marketing their collegiate sports programs and that the profits from these revenues are not shared with players who perform in the arena. Which some feel that they should.
...earn the material. Schools for the most part budget the money that they get to the best of their ability, but need more money to use for these basic and important needs. Overall the school budget committee needs to start from the bottom and fund what is necessary and needed to get schools back on their feet. These easily solved problems are a key part of school funding and should be addressed appropriately.
Financial aspects and profitability of college athletic programs is one of the most important arguments involved in this controversy. A group of people expresses that college athletic programs are over emphasized. The point they show on the first hand, is that athletic programs are too expensive for community colleges and small universities. Besides, statistics prove that financial aspects of college athletic programs are extremely questionable. It is true that maintenance, and facility costs for athletic programs are significantly high in comparison to academic programs. Therefore, Denhart, Villwock, and Vedder argue that athletic programs drag money away from important academics programs and degrade their quality. According to them, median expenditures per athlete in Football Bowl Subdivision were $65,800 in 2006. And it has shown a 15.6 percent median expenditure increase fro...
Cy-Fair’s Business and Financial department develops the budget for school administrators. Once the budget summary has been developed the Principal then can decide within the budget how he would like to spend the money given by the district. Certain areas of the budget are to be spend on specific items, for example the budget for “GT/Horizon Supplies” can only be spend on GT instructional needs. On the other hand the budget for “Instructional Supplies” is more flexible. Primary example the after the Principal analyzes what are his campus needs, he then may decide on the materials he would like to spend the money on as long as it supports the needs of his campus. Although the principal is limited on how he
• To oversee the financial performance of the school ensuring the money is spent effectively and how it is spent
The commitment to athletics in Division III has lead to money being spent on new sports and recreation facilities. So much so that it’s been put to question if there is an “arms race” to who can build the biggest and best facilities. In division I there has been almost 15 billion dollars spent on new facilities since 2000. From 2002-2008 50 brand new facilities were built on college campuses throughout the NCAA with thirteen of them being in division III. All of which cost more then 20 million dollars to the school.
The many jobs the athletic director has, another one is making budgets for the team sports. They are also in charge of ra...
A huge debate has been on the rise lately relating to why division one athletes should get paid on top of obtaining a scholarship. The proposal states that athletes should be eligible to receive money based on a percentage of profit their school makes. Although some say division one athletes already have all of their needs taken care of, helping athletes with extra expenses in college is essential. Because full ride scholarships take care of most costs for athletes, many argue they already have school paid for, and extra money isn’t necessary. On the other hand, athletes spend so much time and effort in their specific sport they don’t have time to earn extra money, which establishes the need for money from their school. Either way, the decision to pass a law of this magnitude is still up in the air.
Top-down budgeting is the preferred method of budgeting for government agencies and many organizations (Ljungham). The methodology of top-down budgeting is described as “dominated by top members of the executive branch and the legislative branch” (Williams & Calabrese, 2011, 178). The methodology entrusts top members to make annual budgeting decisions for their organizations. In many instances, top members also use this time to set annual program or department goals and targets. Top members make these decisions without solicitation of input from bottom levels of an organization. This can result in operational and logistical constraints in the lower levels of an organization when plans are implemented (Williams & Calabrese, 2011). Additionally, it can serve as a source of frustration for staff when uninformed budgeting decisions create consequences. This is particularly true when staff is tasked with making things work in the aftermath of budgeting decisions, despite having clear or attainable goals and budgets. Like all budgeting methodologies, there are benefits and difficulties.
Participative budgeting has the advantage of transferring information from the subordinate to their superior This knowledge is likely to be more reliable and accurate as the subordinate has direct contact with the activity and therefore is in the best position to make budget estimates. Participative Budgeting also gives subordinates the opportunity to discuss organisational issues with superiors, in which an exchange of information and ideas can help to solve problems and agree future actions (Nouri & Parker 1998). This transferral of information is important particularly when dealing with a matter of high task difficulty as, the more difficult a task, the greater the need for consultation with subordinates. Participative budgeting has a higher performance rate when dealing with more difficult and more volatile tasks than non consultative budgeting (Lau & Tan 1998)
Athletic programs give schools national exposure which leads to more applicants, which leads to many benefits for the school. In the article “The Importance of College Athletic Programs to Universities”, Dr. Sabrina Prieur, a college professor and athletics administrator, states that “[Successful
Performance budgeting encompasses the causal relationship among program funding and the probable results of that program and uses this information as a means to develop an actual budget. A major focal point of performance budgeting is accountability; this type of budgeting is often utilized by administrators to obtain cost efficiency and establish useful budget forecasting.
A company's budget serves as a guideline in planning and committing costs in order to meet tactical and strategic goals. Tactical goals such as providing budgetary costs for daily operations, and strategic objectives that include R&D, production, marketing, and distribution are all part of the budgeting process. Serving as a guideline rather than being set in stone, the budget is a snapshot of manager's "best thinking at the time it is prepared." (Marshall, 2003, p.496) The budget is a method in which to reign-in discretionary spending, and will likely show variances between what costs have been anticipated and what costs are actually incurred.
This article tells how colleges that compete in the NCAA spend three to six times as much on their athletics than they do on academics. Athletics are being chosen over academics even in the recession when money was tight, they still invested in athletic programs. Some presidents over colleges want to cut back the spending on athletics, but they cannot make that suggestion without fear of losing their job. It is said that the money goes to the overall campus and athletics, but it mainly goes to athletics. The athletic programs need more because the football teams consume most of it and it was discovered that 7.6 percent of student fees cover the athletic budget.
Because members of school administration are entrusted with the management of public funds, administrators must act ethically and with integrity to ensure school funds are utilized responsibly and that policies that affect the district’s financial integrity are closely examined. Therefore, policies, such as approval of expenditures and payroll, finance and goal setting, and the preparation of the budget, that directly impact the financial integrity of a school district should be carefully