Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to investigate the stages, status, and problems concerning the operational finance and accounting units at the faculty level in public universities. The results reveal that there are two monetary sources: the government budget, and the nongovernment budget. There are four types of organized structure of finance and accounting units at the faculty level : (1) active, (2) branching, (3) official, and (4) simple. The operational stages consist of 5 operations: planning for payment, payment, storage, documenting, and controlling and auditing. The most serious problem concerning finance and accounting is planning for payment. The least serious problem deals with controlling and auditing. Suggestions for operational strategies dealing with finance and accounting units at the faculty level are as follows : the budget allocation system should be of the Block Grant System; the operational regulations about the budget payment should be clear and straightforward, including the interest from the budget deposit; the organized structure should be of the active type, the fiscal year should conform with the academic year; the faculty should plan the budget payment one year in advance; the faculty should set dates and times for payment, and make reports to concerned personnel; there should be four steps for the payment, which are done by one person; the documentation should be done at the faculty level; the payment should be made in the form of a cheque or bank transfer, without any cash payment; there should be a loan for advance payment; there should be at least a three-member committee to inspect cash when depositing with the bank or the university cooperative; there should be records for the budget and payment; there should be an official-business-like--accrual accounting system; the accounting system should be computerized; and there should be a controlled, performance auditing system.