Research On The Educational Cost Accounting Of Higher-education Institutions

With the establishment of the market economic system and the progressive deepening of the higher education management system, the cost information of higher-education institutions has increasingly become a hot topic attracting intense attention from governments at all levels, various segments of society, and education administrative and regulatory authorities. As such, the educational cost accounting of higher-education institutions has become an inevitable trend. However, at present, there are no unified standards in theory for the definition of the concept, characteristics, composition and scope of the educational cost of higher-education institutions, and, in practice, confusion in the understanding of these terms has led to incomparability of educational cost data under different purposes and different environments, which has in turn given rise to considerable adverse influence on the formulation of related policies. This paper attempts to conduct an in-depth investigation and standardization of a series of theoretical issues, such as the basic concept of the educational cost of higher-education institutions and its basis, objects, principles and methods of accounting, by drawing upon accountancy principles and by taking into full consideration the present situation of the accounting systems of China's higher-education institutions and characteristics of the operations of higher-education institutions. The paper also presents ideas and recommendations for the resolution of certain concrete issues which objectively exist in the process of the conversion of appropriation expenditures to educational costs at higher-education institutions, with a view to providing relevant support for standardizing the criteria for accounting for the educational costs of China's higher-education institutions.