Full Article
Transcription
Full Article
J. OF PUBLIC BUDGETING, ACCOUNTING & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, 14(3), 331-359 FALL 2002 REPORTING CASH FLOWS: AN INVESTIGATION OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY COMPLIANCE WITH SFAS NO. 117 Mary Fisher, Teresa Gordon, Marla Myers Kraut and David Malone* ABSTRACT. Reporting cash flows is a relatively recent development in college and university financial reporting. An examination of the purported usefulness of cash flow information to the users of college and university financial statements including an examination of the relationship between accrual-based change in net assets and cash provided by operations found private universities have implemented the cash flow reporting requirements with a relatively high level of compliance employing the indirect format for reporting operating cash flows. The principal areas of deficiency were the reporting of split-interest, restricted gift activities and the required disclosures of cash outflows related to interest and taxes. The discussion of the compliance deficiencies and display findings leads to needed disclosure guidance and future research. INTRODUCTION Business entities have been preparing and reporting cash flow statements for more than a decade under the Financial Accounting ___________ * Mary Fischer, Ph.D., is the Pirtle Professor of Free Enterprise and Professor of Accounting, College of Business & Technology, University of Texas at Tyler. Her teaching and research interests include financial and governmental accounting as it pertains to reporting, cash flows and accounting education. Teresa Gordon, Ph.D., and Marla Myers Kraut, Ph.D., are a Professor and Associate Professor, respectively, Department of Accounting, University of Idaho. Dr. Gordon’s teaching and research interests include the use of accounting information in decision-making particularly in not-for-profit settings. Dr. Kraut’s teaching and research interests include revenue recognition, regulatory issues and the ethical aspects of financial reporting. David Malone, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor, Department of Accounting, Texas Tech University. His teaching and research interests are currently in the area of knowledge management. Copyright © 2002 by PrAcademics Press 332 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE Standards Board’s (FASB) 1987 Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 95 “Statement of Cash Flows.” However, until recently not-for-profit entities including colleges and universities were exempt from reporting the statement of cash flows in their published annual financial reports (FASB, 1987). The exemption was prompted by FASB’s deliberations on a reporting display model for these entities. Six years after SFAS No. 95 became generally accepted accounting principles GAAP, SFAS No. 117 (FASB, 1993b) required not-for-profit entities to issue cash flow statements beginning with fiscal years ending after December 1996. In an effort to determine user preferences and reporting rationale, this study examines college and university financial reporting together with the accounting concepts and literature that encourage cash flow reporting. Using published 1996-1997 college and university financial statements, disclosure compliance, patterns, and issues are investigated and comparisons made to business entity studies. Seventy percent of the institutions in this study disclose sufficient information to enable financial statement users to articulate cash flow statement data to the statement of activity and the statement of financial position. Deficiencies in reporting included failure to report interest and taxes paid and inadequate or unclear reporting of split-interest agreements and other gifts restricted for long-term use. The majority of institutions made a distinction between operating and nonoperating income on the statement of activity. Both the change in unrestricted net assets and voluntarily reported operating income were better predictors of cash provided by operations than the total change in net assets. These findings coupled with the importance of cash flow information to financial statement users suggest that preparers and auditors need more guidance in reporting cash flows, particularly as related to split-interest agreements. REPORTING CASH FLOW: PREFERENCE AND RATIONALE Over time, the FASB has displayed a continuing interest in cash flow data. In Statement of Financial Concepts (SFAC) No. 1, the FASB (1978) stated that users of the financial information of business entities are interested in the ability of entities to produce favorable cash flows. The Board also stated that operating success or failure of entities can be REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 333 determined by the extent to which cash returns exceed cash spent over the long term. This same concern was later reiterated in SFAC No. 4 which provides objectives for financial reporting by nonbusiness (not-for-profit) organizations. Information about cash flows of not-for-profit organizations is expected to be useful in assessing liquidity, interpreting performance information, and evaluating financing activities (FASB, 1980: ¶54). In SFAC No. 5, the Board specified that a full set of financial statements should include “cash flow for the period” (FASB, 1984: ¶13). The conceptual framework was implemented in 1987 for business entities (SFAS No. 95) and in 1993 for not-for-profit entities (SFAS No. 117) when the requirement for a statement of cash flow became part of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). It is important to note that the FASB believes that information about organizational performance is best conveyed by accrual accounting information (SFAC No. 1, ¶44 and SFAC No. 4, ¶50). Accrual accounting recognizes transactions and events that affect performance but do not necessarily coincide with cash receipts and payments of the period. Cash flow information alone would not be sufficient to achieve the objectives of financial reporting but it is, nevertheless, very useful in evaluating the information provided in the income statement. The need for cash flow information was illustrated by the financial difficulties of New York City in the 1970s that resulted in the city restructuring its debt, as well as the dramatic failure of W. T. Grant Company in 1975. Accountants and financial analysts believe that financial problems in these examples were concealed by accrual accounting. Gombola and Ketz (1983) found cash flow to be useful in evaluating distress as entities can report a high net income even though they may experience low or negative operating cash flows. The theoretical development of cash flow reporting can be traced to Lee (1972, 1978, 1993) and Lawson (1972). Lee and Lawson’s advocacy of the cash flow statement is based on the principles of utility and relevance to users. They suggest that the user must be identified as well as the influence and bearing that cash flow information has on their decisions and actions. Other accounting research contains theoretical discourses about potential decision-making advantages of cash flow statement information, especially 334 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE the limitations of accrual recognition measurements (e.g., Lee, 1993; Neill, Schaefer, Bahnson, & Bradbury, 1991; Rappaport, 1988). Recent studies have concentrated on the for-profit entity’s operating performance and financial condition. For example, Ingram and Lee (1997) found that the firm’s financial condition can be described by the long-term relationship between reported net income and cash flows from operating activities. The utility of cash flow information to different users, however, relies on conjecture rather than empirical results (Lee 1981; Hackel & Livnat 1991; Henderson & Maness, 1989). Lee (1981) found that accountants and audit partners perceived cash flow data to be particularly relevant to bankers and shareholders. Jones, Romano and Smyrnios (1995) claim that cash flow information is relevant to all user groups except employees, consumers, and suppliers. The format of the cash flow statement has an important bearing on information usefulness. SFAS No. 95 allows both the direct and the indirect methods for presenting operating activities although the FASB encourages adoption of the direct method. The direct method displays cash receipts and payments such as cash received from student tuition, gifts, and other transactions and cash paid to employees and suppliers. The indirect method works backwards from the change in net assets by adding or subtracting items included in revenue or expense that do not represent operating cash flows. The indirect method is chosen by a majority of publicly traded firms because the data needed in its preparation is more easily obtained from traditional accrual-based financial accounting systems (AICPA, 1998). In addition, some argue that the indirect method conveys more information because it details the differences between accrual accounting and cash flows (Wolk & Tearney, 1997). This is a weak argument as the same information is provided by entities that use the direct method since a reconciliation between the change in net assets and cash provided by operations is a requirement under SFAS No. 95. Other researchers argue that the direct method of reporting operating cash flows is superior to the indirect method as it enables the user to make future cash flow projections (Heath, 1978; Lee, 1983, 1993; Sondhi, Sorter & White, 1987; Sondhi, Sorter, Ross & White, 1988). REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 335 How important are cash flow disclosures to the users of the financial statements of governmental and not-for-profit entities? The major GASB study (Engstrom, 1988) unfortunately did not include the cash flow statement perhaps because colleges and universities were not required to report cash flows at that time. Khumawala and Gordon (1997) asked donors about the importance of the statement of cash flows. In their study, donors rated “details on cash flows including assets acquired and loans repaid” as more important to them than details on liabilities, changes in net assets and accounting policies. Cash flow information was, however, rated as less important than information about “programs provided and organizational goals and achievements,” the nature of expenses, and details about assets (Khumwala & Gordon, 1997, p. 62). These findings may not be directly applicable to college and university reporting since donors may be less motivated to seek out financial information when giving to organizations from which they received benefits in the past (Gordon & Khumwala, 1999). IMPORTANCE OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION TO USERS OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FINANCIAL DATA The statement of cash flows for colleges and universities provides information about activities that generate cash, pay debts and enhance the ability to maintain or expand operating capacity. Analysis of this information becomes critical in determining the financial health and viability of the institution, particularly if the institution is dependent upon tuition to fund its operating activities. Monitoring cash flows enables institutional administrators to predict whether financial resources will be adequate to meet needs. The monitoring process can identify weak accounting procedures or financial anomalies to uncover poor receivable collections or concerns in the disbursement process. College and university cash managers are concerned with cash inflows and outflows on a day-today basis. These activities provide a clear understanding of the dynamics of institutional operations and can help the administrators develop strategies to meet contractual obligations or expedite cash collections. Cash flow data provides valuable insights into relationships among operating, investing and financing cash flows in addition to trends in each of the areas. The data may also provide information regarding the cash available for future investment, 336 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE actual cash flows versus expected cash flows, and future cash requirements. Cash flow clearly is a measure of financial health. Governing boards, prospective donors, creditors, vendors and consumers need to know the institution’s cash inflows and how they are generated. They need to know the outflows and what they are being used for. Since the statement of financial position does not reflect inflationary impact, financial statement users may look to the cash flow statement to evaluate operating success or failure. The change in net assets produced by accrual accounting does not, by itself, provide sufficient information about liquidity, financial flexibility or earning power of the institution. Cash flow data may be helpful for comparative purposes in two ways. First, for an individual institution, year-to-year comparisons of cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities can be critically important in developing financial and operating strategies. Such comparisons assist financial managers in identifying trends in both sources and uses of cash. Second, comparisons to other similar institutions provide useful benchmark data in assessing the institution’s ability to generate cash as well as the efficiency of its uses of cash. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FINANCIAL REPORTING Financial statements for colleges and universities attempt to provide full and adequate disclosures of pertinent financial information. The financial statements are prepared for four general types of users: (1) management and trustees, (2) those with oversight responsibility such as grantors or providers of financial aid, (3) resource providers (donors and creditors), and (4) other stakeholders including students, their parents, and alumni. To provide information for this diverse group, paragraph 6 of SFAS No. 117 requires a statement of financial position, a statement of activities, a statement of cash flows, and disclosure notes to the statements. The financial statements must be prepared for the entire entity so that the entity can be viewed as a whole. Revenues, expenses, gains, losses and net assets are reported by type of restriction - permanently restricted, temporarily restricted, and unrestricted. The statement of financial position provides information about the institution’s assets, liabilities and net assets and their relationship to each REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 337 other. This information helps financial statement users assess the institutions’ liquidity, financial flexibility, ability to continue operations, ability to meet obligations, and future financial needs. The statement of financial position focuses on the institution as a whole and uses the homogenous group concept, aggregating financial statement elements into similar groups, such as cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, marketable securities, land, buildings and equipment, accounts payable, and bonds payable. The financial position statement reports total assets, liabilities, and net assets. Net assets with donor imposed permanent or temporary restrictions are reported separately from unrestricted net assets. Permanently restricted net assets are those resulting from contributions and other asset inflows whose use is limited by donor imposed stipulations that neither expire by passage of time nor can be fulfilled or otherwise removed by actions of the institution. Temporarily restricted net assets are those resulting from contributions and other asset inflows whose use is limited by donor imposed stipulations that can be met by either the passage of time or can be fulfilled or removed by actions of the institution. These net assets may involve time restrictions (such as requiring that the assets be used after a certain date or in a certain time period) or purpose restrictions (such as requiring that the net assets be used for a certain program or activity). Temporarily restricted net assets are reclassified to unrestricted net assets when the time or purpose restriction is met by the institution. The statement of activity provides information about the effects of transactions and other events that change the amount and nature of net assets and how the institution’s resources are used in providing various programs or services. Like the statement of financial position, the statement of activities focuses on the institution as a whole and reports the change of net assets by level of restriction for the financial period. These changes link the beginning net assets to the ending net assets displayed in the statement of financial position. In general, a restriction expires when the period of the restriction has lapsed or when an expenditure for an authorized purpose is made. If an expense is incurred for a purpose for which both unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets are available, the donor-restriction is 338 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE deemed satisfied (FASB, 1993a). Donor restricted contributions whose restrictions are met in the same reporting period may be reported as unrestricted net assets provided that the institution reports consistently from period to period and discloses its recognition policy (FASB, 1993a). Expenses incurred by the institution are reported only as decreases in unrestricted net assets and are displayed by their functional use such as instruction, research, and public service. Functional display of expenses is required because it enables the financial statement user to determine the cost of various programs offered by the university (AICPA, 1996). The third required statement, statement of cash flows, provides relevant information about cash receipts and cash payments during the period. The statement of cash flows shows why cash changed during the period and reports net cash provided or used by operating, investing, and financing activities. SFAS No. 117 amended SFAS No. 95, by extending its provisions to not-for-profit organizations. It also expanded SFAS No. 95 to require additional mandatory and voluntary disclosures and provide guidance on issues unique to not-for-profit organizations. Contributions to acquire fixed assets or contributions of plant assets should be reported as temporarily restricted support over the life of the asset (i.e. during the period depreciation is being recognized) if (1) the donor restricts the use and disposition of the assets, or (2) the institution has a policy of imposing a time restriction that expires over the life of the donated assets or the life of the assets acquired with donated money (FASB, 1993a). When the restrictions lapse or as depreciation expense is recorded, temporarily restricted net assets are reduced and unrestricted net assets are increased in the statement of activities. Cash flows that are restricted by the donor for long-term purposes such as the purchase or construction of longlived assets are classified as financing activity, and the purchase of the longlived asset is reported as an investing activity in the statement of cash flows (AICPA, 1996). Donor restricted revenues and cash flows also include endowment gifts, split interest agreements and other long-term fund raising transactions. Endowment gifts are permanently restricted as the institutions are required to invest the resources permanently and expend only the investment earnings. New endowment gifts received in cash are reported as financing REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 339 activities in the statement of cash flows while the acquisition, disposition, and maturities of investments are investing activities. The not-for-profit sector has developed a number of trust and similar arrangements under which the charity receives benefits it shares with other beneficiaries. Such arrangements include charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities and life income funds. Referred to as “split interest agreements,” the arrangements create long-term liability and long-term asset accounts. The difference between the liability to other beneficiaries and the fair value of the gift is recorded as a contribution. Generally, the agreements stipulate that the institution invest the donated assets and provide payments to the donor or other donor-identified persons during their lifetimes. The payments can be either an established amount set out by the agreement, or the investment income earned on the donated assets. The AICPA audit guide (AICPA, 1996) states that the institution’s beneficial share of a new split-interest agreement’s cash inflow should be reported as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. Under SFAS No. 116, the interest accrued on pledges or promises to give is recorded as additional revenue from contributions (rather than interest revenue) on the statement of activities. Accordingly, it can be argued that the cash flows related to investment income received on split-interest agreements should be reported as contributions on the statement of activities and as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. Subsequent to the initial gift, the fair value of split-interest agreements may change due to changes in underlying assumptions such as the expected life of the other beneficiaries. These adjustments could conceivably be considered contribution revenue. The audit guide states that the amounts should be disclosed as separate items either on the face of the statement of activities or in the notes (AICPA, 1996). Guidance for preparation of the statement of cash flows is less specific. Fair value adjustments are not cash flows, per se. On a statement of cash flows prepared using the indirect method, they would appear in the cash provided by operations section as adjustments to the change in net assets as no cash was received. 340 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE SAMPLE SELECTION To perform a content analysis on the financial statements of all 1800 private colleges and universities in the United States would have been prohibitive. Instead, the population for this study is all private colleges and universities with accredited engineering programs. This provides a base level of consistency among the institutions to be examined since engineering programs are generally capital intensive with consistent cost structures among institutions. The selection of the sample was designed to provide adequate sample size while minimizing the considerable task of performing a financial statement content analysis on the schools in the sample. In an earlier phase of this study, requests for published financial statements were sent to all private institutions with accredited engineering programs with a response rate of 72 percent. Of those responding, four schools declined to participate and 13 sent inappropriate presidential or treasurer statements that did not include audited financial statements. Two requests were made of each school for its 1997 annual report. The final study population includes 61 institutions with as much regional diversity as was possible. Given that private colleges and universities are concentrated in the eastern regions of the U. S., the proportion of schools represented in each region of the country is, therefore, not consistent. A list of schools in the study is provided in Appendix A. The schools in the study are reasonably representative of accredited engineering programs with respect to geographic location. Compared to the general population of four-year institutions, both the schools included in this study and accredited engineering programs are skewed toward doctoral granting institutions. As shown in Appendix B, 54 percent of the sample schools are doctoral granting institutions. Thirty-one percent are comprehensive and the remaining 15 percent are liberal arts colleges and specialized engineering and technology schools. A Big-Six accounting firm audited all but two of the institutions. Although schools were selected from a working population of private colleges and universities with accredited engineering programs, the data reported in Table 1 reflects the broad range in size represented in the sample. Schools in the study are skewed toward institutions with higher REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 341 TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics Mean Enrollment 8,057.6 Std. Minimum Deviation 6,349.9 628 Maximum 29,132 Annual Tuition Rate $16,712 $4,936 $400 $28,230 Audit Letter # of Days after End 92.61 40,26 25 304 of Year Change in Cash and Cash $2,410 $34,414 -$127,961 $174,903 Equivalents Total Assets $1,781,096 $2,648,320 $23,002 $15,354,479 Total Liabilities $328,709 $433,681 $9,854 $1,931,637 Total Net Assets $1,452,386 $2,272,955 $12,266 $13,422,842 Permanently restricted net assets Change in total net assets Operating Income Change in Unrestricted Net $293,803 $206,725 $30,853 $118,025 $420,442 $384,691 $51,482 $189,334 $1,209 -$10,079 $-7,841 $-1,070 $2,404,605 $2,490,581 $231,954 $1,012,636 Assets Change in Restricted Net Assets Tuition & fees revenue Unrestricted total revenues Cash provided by operations $88,700 $103,452 $557,889 $32,620 $254,025 -$10,283 $95,702 $1,109 $663,146 $14,417 $65,997 -$302,045 $1,925,354 $380,675 $2,378,195 $225,452 * Dollar amounts, except tuition rate, are stated in thousands. enrollments (mean 8,058) and tuition rates (mean $16,712). Eighty percent of the schools that chose not to participate in this study were smaller comprehensive and liberal arts schools such as Capital College in Maryland and Hocking College in Ohio. A comparison of the schools in the study and nonparticipating institutions found this study’s sample comprises a majority (64 percent) of the total enrollment of all private colleges and university with accredited engineering programs. COMPLIANCE WITH ACCOUNTING STANDARDS All sixty-one institutions in the study provided a statement of cash flows. An overwhelming majority (95 percent) used the indirect method of 342 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE presentation (Table 2). Those institutions that used the direct method of reporting included the required reconciliation. Regardless of the method employed in the statement of cash flows presentation, cash flow data articulated to the statement of financial position and statement of activities for 43 of the institutions in the study (70 percent). According to SFAS No. 95 ¶7, the cash flow statement is based on changes in cash and cash equivalents. The reporting entity is required to disclose its policy for determining which items are treated as cash equivalents (SFAS No. 95 ¶10). Fifty-one of the 61 institutions (84 percent) used the cash and cash equivalent terminology but three of the 51 institutions failed to define cash equivalents. SFAS No. 95 ¶11 states that information about the gross amount of cash receipts and cash payments during a period is generally more relevant than information about the net amounts of cash receipts and disbursements. SFAS No. 95 ¶16 specifies that cash inflows from investing activities include the receipts from sales of equity and other investment instruments. Paragraph 17 lists payments to acquire equity investment instruments as cash outflows from investing activities. Fifty-six of the 61 institutions (92 percent) reported investment acquisitions and investment sales at their gross amount. The five institutions that did not report gross amounts included an amount for the "net change in investments" among investing activities. SFAS No. 117 and the AICPA Audit Guide (1996) modified the SFAS No. 95 investment activities category to include cash contributions that the donor restricts for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment. The Audit Guide argues that cash received with such donor-stipulations should not be aggregated with cash available for current use in the statement of financial position. Although each institution in this study reported temporarily restricted revenues and temporarily restricted net assets, none reported restricted cash contributions for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment as financing activities on the statement of cash flows.1 The change in cash and cash equivalents reported by each college and university in this study was reconciled to the cash and cash equivalents balance displayed in the current assets section of the statement of financial REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 343 position. Some institutions may have invested the cash restricted for acquisition of plant assets in the endowment investments as a means to attain segregation; however, such resource segregation was not reported on the face of the statement of financial position or disclosed in the footnotes. SFAS No. 95 ¶29 requires disclosure of interest and taxes paid during the year for both the direct and indirect methods for reporting operating cash flow. Although sixty institutions reported long-term debt on their statement of financial position, only fifty-four (88 percent) disclosed interest paid on the face of the cash flow statement or in the notes. No institution reported paying as part of the cash flow display. Each of the institutions in the study received an unqualified opinion from their auditors which implies the reporting and disclosures were reviewed for GAAP compliance. The two cash flow disclosure requirements reported as zero compliance in Table 2 may be misleading. Cash gifts restricted by donor stipulation for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment may not have been material or the cash could be included in the long-term investments which is segregated from resources available for current operations. Either of these situations would result in nondisclosure. The lack of disclosure of taxes paid would indicate noncompliance only if the institution earned unrelated business income. Three institutions (4.9 percent) reported note disclosures that unrelated business tax (UBIT) obligations existed but provided no details. Another 11.5 percent specifically reported no UBIT obligations while 83.6 percent included nothing regarding UBIT in their financial statement disclosures. Had the three institutions disclosing the tax obligation made any tax payment, then the tax disbursement should have been reported in the cash flow statement. Without payment there would be no taxes paid to disclose on the cash flow statement. Whether that is the situation could not be confirmed on the statement of financial position because those institution reporting the obligation did not display taxes payable among their liabilities. As discussed above, SFAS No. 117 ¶30 amended SFAS No. 95 ¶18 to include as financing activities those restricted resources that by donor stipulation must be used for long-term purposes. This requirement has led to a significant difference in practice. Little consistency was found in the 344 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE TABLE 2 College and University Cash Flow Reporting and Disclosure Compliance Report Card Reporting or Disclosure Requirement Compliance Percentage 100% 61 95% 58 Statement of Cash Flows prepared using the direct method 5% 3 Statement of Cash Flows articulated to other financial statements Used cash and cash equivalent terminology 70% 43 84% 51 Disclosed definition of cash and cash equivalent 79% 48 Reported investment purchase and sale activities at gross amount Disclosed cash gifts restricted by donors for acquisition of property, plant and equipment as a segregated amount not available for operating activities Amount of interest paid disclosed 92% 56 0% 88% 0 54 Amount of taxes paid disclosed 0% 0 Statement of Cash Flows included in audited financial statements Statement of Cash Flows prepared using the indirect method N reporting of split-interest agreement gifts. As shown in Table 3, 38 of the institutions (62 percent) in the study reported split-interest gift activity in the statement of financial position or statement of cash flow. Split-interest cash transactions were reported in both the operating and financing sections. Fair value adjustments to the beneficiary liability were reported by fifteen institutions (40 percent) as an operating activity and two institutions (5 percent) as a financing activity. Twelve institutions (32 percent) reported new split-interest gifts as financing activities in compliance with SFAS 117, whereas eight institutions (21 percent) reported them as operating activities. Thirteen institutions (34 percent) reported gift disbursements to beneficiaries as financing activities. Income earned on investments on split-interest gifts might be available for operations under the terms of the agreement and accordingly classified REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 345 TABLE 3 Split-Interest Agreement Reporting and Disclosure Institutions Reporting Split-Interest Agreements Number Percentage of Sample -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Disclosed on Statement of Financial Position 35 57% Disclosed only on Statement of Cash Flows 3 5% Disclosed only on Statement of Financial Position 5 8% Institutions reporting split-interest agreement activity 38 62% Split Interest Agreement Presentation on Statement of Cash Flows Operating Activities Financing Activities Number % Number % ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Income earned on investment 3 11% 2 7% Change in fair value 15* 58% 2* 7% New gift amounts 8* 31% 12 41% Payments to beneficiaries 13 45% Column Totals 26 100% 29 100% Note: The number of institutions reporting split interest agreements is not the sum of the disclosures due to inconsistently display choices * The asterisk indicates that the presentation does not appear to be consistent with GAAP. Cash contributions received under a split interest agreement should be reported as a financing activity. Fair value adjustments to split interest agreements would normally be a noncash recognition in the statement of activity change in net assets rather than a disclosure in the statement of cash flows. as an operating activity. Investment income might also be reported as a financing activity if it is restricted for reinvestment in trust principle. Three institutions identified investment income as operating cash inflows and two institutions reported the investment income as financing cash flows. Splitinterest agreement investment income accruing to the other thirty-three institutions with split-interest agreements could not be identified. 346 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE As shown in Table 3, institutions display in an inconsistent fashion the effects of the different types of split-interest cash flows (e.g., initial contribution, change in fair value, investment returns, and payments to noninstitutional beneficiaries). Neither SFAS No. 117 nor the AICPA Audit Guide specifically addressed the cash flows associated with split-interest gift agreements. DISCUSSION AND COMPARISON WITH BUSINESS CASH FLOW REPORTING Ninety-five percent of the institutions in this study used the indirect method to prepare the statement of cash flows, slightly lower than the 98 percent of the publicly-held companies in the U. S. that report using the indirect method (AICPA, 1998, p. 485). Usefulness of the cash flow data could only be judged by the method used to prepare the statement. Anticipated future cash flow projections should be more easily computed from those statements prepared using the direct method. Such projections could provide useful information on the ability of the institution to pay existing or anticipated debt obligations. The information also provides data on aggregate operating inflows and outflows.2 Articulation between the statement of cash flows, statement of activities, and statement of financial position was achieved by a majority of the colleges and universities (70 percent). Each institution began the operating activities presentation (or the comparable reconciliation required under the direct method) with the change in net assets amount reported on the statement of activities. Changes in working capital accounts, however, and other information on the statement of financial position could not be supported for 18 institutions due to summarized information, reclassifications and other adjustments. Unidentified nonoperating changes in the current accounts and operating changes in noncurrent accounts may also have contributed to the nonarticulation. Bahnson, Miller and Budge (1996) found 75 percent of publicly traded companies reported cash flows from operating activities that could not be reconciled with net income through changes in current amounts and other information on the balance sheet.3 Since only 30 percent of the statement of cash flows presented by colleges and universities in this sample could not be reconciled, the statements were considerably more transparent than those of the corporations studied by Bahnson et al. (1996). REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 347 Eighty-eight percent of the institutions in this study reported interest payments in accordance with SFAS No. 95 ¶29. This is significantly less than the 97.2 percent of all publicly held companies in the U.S. that display interest payments. Forty-five percent of for-profit companies report interest paid on the face of the statement while another 55 percent disclose the information in the footnotes (AICPA, 1998). These differences may relate to disclosure by publicly traded firms of expenses by natural classification on the face of the income statement rather than the functional expense categories reported by nonprofit entities. For-profit organizations rarely receive gifts to acquire long-lived assets or enter into split-interest trust agreements. Therefore college and university noncompliance with the reporting requirements on these resources appear to be unique to not-for-profit organizations. Cash Flow Relationships and Measures Ingram and Lee (1997) found that over time a relationship exists between reported operating income and cash flows from operations. Although data over time was unavailable for this study, analyses were made to determine what relationship, if any, existed between college and university accrual and cash based measurements. Pearson product moment correlations are presented in Table 4. This analysis found a strong positive correlation between cash flow from operating activities and the change in cash and cash equivalents. In contrast, the correlations between the change in cash and accrual based income measures (change in total net assets and operating income) were not statistically significant. Although cash and cash equivalents change in a comparable manner to the cash flow from operations, the relationship between the two is inconclusive as cash is provided or used by operations and influenced by financing and investing activities. Neither tuition nor enrollments are highly correlated to the accrual or cash based operating income. Regression analysis4 found tuition rate and enrollment together explain only 10.82% (probability .01) of the variance in operating income and 4.8% (probability .08) of cash flow from operations which underscores the low correlations. The strong positive relationship between enrollment and tuition revenue net of discounts was expected: the correlation of .881 indicates that enrollment by itself explains 348 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE 78 percent of the variation in total tuition revenue. However, the tuition rate and the net tuition revenue relationship was unexpected as the tuition rate explains only 27.7 percent of the tuition revenue (r = .527). The relationship may reflect the result of tuition discounts being netted against tuition revenue as required by the AICPA (1996) audit guide. Geiger (1986, p. 169) puts forward the paradoxical generalization1 that “the higher the tuition a private college or university charges, the less tuition-dependent the institution is likely to be.” The highest tuition rates are charged by private institutions that have other substantial sources of income such as research universities and highly selective liberal arts colleges. Conversely, less selective private schools often have few other sources of income and are highly dependent on tuition. The FASB believes that the change in unrestricted net assets can be considered an operating measure (FASB, 1993b). However, the majority of the institutions in this study (69 percent) chose to make a voluntarily distinction between operating and nonoperating income in the statement of activities. This is permitted under SFAS No. 117 but the board provides no guidance so the resulting operating income figures are probably not entirely comparable. For example, some institutions reported all investment income as operating income while others displayed investment income in accordance with their endowment income spending policy. That is, reinvested investment income was displayed as nonoperating income while the income authorized by the endowment spending policy to support programmatic activities was reported as operating revenue. The latitude in the standard is intended to let not-for-profit organizations make distinctions that they believe will provide more meaningful information for the users of their financial statements (FASB, 1993b). The change in unrestricted net assets and the voluntarily reported operating income figure were positively correlated (r = .448). Both accrualbased measures of operations should be more clearly associated with cash provided by operations than the overall reported change in total net assets. As shown on Table 4, the change in total net assets was not significantly correlated with cash provided by operations (r = -.174). However, operating cash flows were positively correlated with the other two accrualbased measures of income: change in unrestricted net assets (r = .300) and operating income (r = .465). It appears that voluntarily REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 349 TABLE 4 Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients with Significance Level (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Annual Tuition Rate .380(**) Change in Cash & Cash Equivalents -0.062 -0.024 Change in Total Net Assets .379(**) .392(**) -0.206 Operating Income .312(*) .305(*) 0.214 .311(*) Change in Unrestricted Net Assets .356(**) .391(**) 0.195 .819(**) Change in Restricted Net Assets .309(*) .301(*) -.458(**) .904(**) 0.136 .495(**) Total Tuition and Fees .881(**) .527(**) -0.079 .571(**) .415(**) .523(**) .475(**) Unrestricted Total Revenues .597(**).512(**) 0.092 .718(**) .574(**) .776(**) .509(**) .744(**) Cash Provided by Operations 0.223 .622(**) -0.174 .465(**) .300(*) -.486(**) .272(*) .265(*) .448(**) .397(**) Note: Column (1) = Enrollment; Column (2) = Annual Tuition Rate; Column (3) = Change in Cash & Cash Equivalents; Column (4) = Change in total net assets; Column (5) = Operating Income; Column (6) Change in Unrestricted Net Assets; Column (7) = Change in Restricted Net Assets; Column (8) = Total Tuition and Fees; Column (9) = Unrestricted Total Revenues ** Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed) * Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed) 350 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE disclosed operating income figures may be more relevant than simply reporting the change in unrestricted net assets. Nevertheless, operating income explained less than a quarter of the variation in cash provided by operations in this sample. To further examine the issue, we looked at only those 42 institutions that chose to report a measure of operating income. The correlation between operating income and cash provided by operations was not dramatically higher (r = .492, p = .001) but the correlation between the change in unrestricted net assets and operating cash flow declined below the level of statistical significance (r = .251, p = .109). The differences suggest that institutions that believe the change in unrestricted net assets may not be a relevant measure of operating income are more likely to voluntarily report an alternate figure more closely associated with the cash provided by operating activities. Table 4 has a number of other significant correlations of interest. For example, enrollment, the annual tuition rate, and unrestricted revenues are positively correlated with most of the other variables. The change in cash and cash equivalents is positively related to the cash provided by operations and negatively related to the change in restricted net assets. A measure of complexity for the institutions in this study is difficult to describe or identify. Dwyer and Wilson (1989), Rubin (1992), and Johnson (1996) posit that organizational complexity can be measured in the number of days that lapse between the end of the fiscal year and the date of the published audit attestation letter. Audit delays also were found to be associated with the change in equity (Carslaw & Kaplan, 1991; Kinney & McDaniel, 1993; Lawrence & Bryan, 1998; McLelland & Giroux, 1998). Given the average ‘audit days’ found in this study (92.6 days), it appears that colleges and universities are less complex and their audits are more efficient when compared to the 119 days required of publicly-traded forprofit companies (Carslaw & Kaplan, 1991). This may or may not be a measure of quality or a function of the audit firm’s performance. However unlike the other studies, audit delay was not found to be associated with the change in equity (correlation 0.05 with a 0.676 probability). It is interesting to note that the institution whose auditors needed 304 days to complete the review was constrained by a federal financial aid audit that resulted in an $8 million adverse finding. REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 351 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS Compliance by institutions in this study with cash flows reporting and related disclosure requirements was generally satisfactory with respect to SFAS No. 95 requirements. Large audit firms such as the Big-5 are accustomed to preparing this statement, which has been a GAAP required report by for-profit entities since 1988. However, the disclosures unique to not-for-profit entities added under SFAS No. 117 were deficient at least partially due to lack of sufficiently detailed guidance. Seventy percent of the institutions in this study disclose sufficient information to enable the financial statement user to articulate the statement of cash flow data to the statement of activities and statement of financial position. As colleges and universities become more familiar with reporting cash flow activities, they may begin to summarize financial information so as to diminish the transparency of the articulation. Summarization, reclassifications, and transfers, together with unidentified nonoperating changes in operating accounts, result in an articulation rate of only 25 percent in for-profit financial reports as reported by Bahnson, et al. (1996). Colleges and universities are encouraged to make the operating/nonoperating distinction in their statement of activities because the information is a better predictor of cash provided by operations than the overall change in net assets. A longitudinal verification of our crosssectional model would be important to confirm that net operating income is a more relevant number than the change in unrestricted net assets for calculating cash flows from operating activities displayed in the statement of cash flows. A number of institutions in this study failed to report interest or taxes paid as required by SFAS No. 95. This lack of compliance may well change as colleges and universities become more accustomed to preparing and interpreting the statement of cash flows. Over time, the college and university statement of cash flows could become more like those of publicly held corporations. The lack of consistency in the reporting of split-interest gift agreements is attributed to the lack of definitive guidance. Cash flows arise 352 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE from these agreements at their inception, during their term and at their conclusion. At inception, the cash inflow is accounted for in two parts; the present value of the future benefits due the non-institutional beneficiary and the remainder representing the contribution to the institution. During the agreement’s term, dividends and interest earned on the invested gift and payments made to the non-institutional beneficiary are recorded. Noncash transactions may be needed for actuarial adjustments to the present value of the future benefits due. At the agreement’s termination when the liability to the non-institutional beneficiary is liquidated, cash inflows or outflows may result, according to the donor’s stipulations. Clearly, more specific reporting and disclosure guidance is needed given the complexity of reporting split-interest gift agreement activities and the importance of these gifts as a fund-raising vehicle. These research findings should be used by accounting standard bodies to create an omnibus GAAP disclosure guidance standard. Definitive disclosure guidance also is needed to address not-forprofit’s reporting of temporarily restricted resources that, in accordance with donor stipulations, are held to acquire long-lived assets. Gifts to acquire long-lived assets including property, plant and equipment are critical to colleges and universities’ margin of excellence but were not clearly displayed in the statement of cash flows. The relationship between the change in net assets and operating cash flows provides information associated with future performance. Theoretically, both accrual and cash-based data is useful for predicting future cash flows and financial performance. Neither measure alone, however, is capable of conveying this information. In this cross-sectional study, only the predictive ability of accrual-based data could be tested. Longitudinal research would be needed to ascertain whether cash-based or accrual based measures are best suited to predicting future operating cash flows. Several other opportunities exist for future research. For example, reviews of the definition and classification of cash flow items in the operating, investing and financing activities would be a worthwhile area of research. Studies would be useful in ascertaining the benefits of cash flow REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 353 statement standardization to resolve inconsistencies and ambiguities of items displayed in the statement’s operating, investing and financing categories, including the reporting of interest and unrelated business income tax paid. And finally, the level of importance attached to cash flow data of not-for-profit entities by users is another interesting issue in need of examination. Based on the findings reported in this paper, the cash flow statement would be more useful if there were a higher level of consistency in disclosure. It also appears that an operating income figure other than the change in unrestricted net assets would be useful to the users of college and university financial statements. For these improvements to be realized, we believe that additional guidance by FASB or the AICPA is needed for the special circumstances that pertain to not-for-profit organizations. NOTES 1. In order for the statement of cash flows to reconcile beginning and ending cash and cash equivalents (AICPA1996 Audit Guide ¶3.18), cash contributions restricted for acquisitions of plant assets must be reported as in inflow under financing activities with a simultaneously reported outflow under investing activities for either the purchase of the plant asset or the purchase of investments restricted for the purchase in a later period. 2. Jones et al. (1995), however, found aggregate inflow and outflow amounts displayed using the direct method could not be directly tied to the accrual based revenue and expense items presented on the statement of activities. 3. Bahnson et al. (1996) analyzed financial statements for U.S. companies for 1987 through 1990 in the Compustat PC data set that had sufficient data points to reconcile cash flow articulation among the required financial reports. No cash flow display information was reported other than the articulation percentage. 4. Tests for multicollinearity and extreme values were negative. Univariate analysis Shaprio-Wilks statistic, W, indicated a normal distribution. 354 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE 5. One explanation for the paradox is that high tuition rate schools often provide large tuition discounts . Thus only a portion of the tuition rate may be realized in cash making these schools actually less tuition dependent than appears on the surface. APPENDIX A Universities Included in Study Boston University Bradley University Brown University Bucknell University California Institute of Technology Case Western University Christian Bros University Columbia University Cooper Union of Science & Art Cornell University Dartmouth University Dayton, University of Denver University Detroit University Drexel University Duke University Gannon University George Washington University Gonzaga University Harvard University Harvey Mudd Howard University Illinois Institute of Technology Johns Hopkins University Kettering University Lehigh University LeTourneau University Loyola Marymount University Marietta College Mercer University Merrimack University Miami University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Monmouth University Northwestern University Notre Dame University Ohio Northern Pacific, University of Pennsylvania, University of Princeton University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rice University Rochester Institute of Technology Rose-Hulman University Seattle Pacific Seattle University Southern California University Southern Methodologist Univ. St. Thomas University Stanford University St. Martin's University Swathmore University Trinity University Tufts University Tulane Tulsa, University of Tuskegee Vanderbilt University Washington University Worcester Polytechnic Institute Yale REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 355 APPENDIX B Description of Institutions Included in Study Panel A – Regional Accrediting Agency Percentage Number ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New England Association of Schools and Colleges 15% 9 (CT ME MA NH RI VT) Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools 26% 16 (DE DC MD NJ NY PA PR VI) North Central Association of Colleges and Schools 25% 15 (AZ AR CO IL IN IA KS MI MN MO NE NM ND OH OK WV WI WY) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 17% 11 (AL FL GA KY LA MS NC SC TN TX VA) Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges 7% 4 (AK ID MT NV OR UT WA) Western Association of Schools and Colleges 10% 6 (CA HI GU) Total 100% 61 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Panel B - Carnegie Classification Percentage Number ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Research I and II 38% 23 Doctoral I and II 16% 10 Comprehensive I 31% 19 Liberal arts and specialized engineering 15% 9 100% 61 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Panel C – Audit Firm Percentage Number ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Arthur Andersen LLP 3% 2 Coopers & Lybrand LLP. 34% 21 Deloitte & Touche LLP 10% 6 Ernst & Young LLP 11% 7 KPMG Peat Marwick LLP 29% 17 Price Waterhouse LLP 10% 6 Other Audit Firms 3% 2 Total 100% 61 ___________________________________________________________ 356 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE REFERENCES American Institution of Certified Public Accountants. (1996). Audit and Accounting Guide - Not-for-Profit Organizations. New York: Author. American Institution of Certified Public Accountants. (1998). Accounting Trends and Techniques. New York: Author. Bahnson, P. R., Miller, P. B. W., & Budge, B. P. (1996, December), “Nonarticulation of Cash Flow Statements and Implications for Education, Research and Practice.” Accounting Horizons, 10(1), 1-15. Carslaw, C. A., & Kaplan, S. E. (1991). “An Examination of Audit Delays.” Accounting and Business Research, 22(85), 21-32. Dwyer, P., & Wilson, E. (1989). “An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting the Timeliness of Reporting by Municipalities.” Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 8(1), 29-55. Engstrom, J. (1988). Information Needs of College and University Financial Decision Makers. Norwalk, CT: Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1978). Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 1. Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises. Stamford, CT: Author. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1980). Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC) No. 4 - Objectives of Financial Reporting by Nonbusiness Organizations. Norwalk, CT: Author. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1984). Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 5. Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements of Business Enterprises. Stamford, CT: Author. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1987). Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 95, Statement of Cash Flows. Stamford, CT: Author. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1993a). Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 116, Accounting for Contributions Received and Contributions Made, Norwalk, CT: Author. REPORTING CASH FLOWS: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE COMPLIANCE 357 Financial Accounting Standards Board. (1993b). Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 117, Financial Statements for Not-for-Profit Organizations. Norwalk, CT: Author. Geiger, R. L. (1986). Private Sectors in Higher Education: Structure, Function, and Change in Eight Countries. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Gombola, M. J., & Ketz, J. E. (1983, January). “A Note on Cash Flow and Classification Patterns of Financial Ratios.” The Accounting Review, 58(1), 105-114. Gordon, T., & Khumawala, S. B. (1999). “The Demand for Nonprofit Financial Statements.” Journal of Accounting Literature, 18(1), 31-56. Hackel, K. S., & Livnat, J. (1991). Cash Flow and Security Analysis. Homewood, IL: Book Press. Heath, L. C. (1978). “Financial Reporting and the Evaluation of Solvency.” Accounting Research (Monograph 3). New York: AICPA. Henderson, J. W., & Maness, T. S. (1989). The Financial Analyst’s Deskbook: A Cashflow Approach to Liquidity. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Ingram, R. W., & Lee, T. A. (1997, September). “Information Provided by Accrual and Cash-flow Measures of Operational Activities.” Abacus: 33(2), 168-185. Johnson, L. (1996). “Factors Influencing Municipal Audit Delay.” Accounting Enquiries, 6(1), 121-148. Jones, S. R., Romano, C., & Smyrnios, K. S. (1995, Spring). “An Evaluation of the Decision Usefulness of Cash Flow Statements by Australian Reporting Entities.” Accounting and Business Research, 25(98), 115-129. Khumawala, S. B., & Gordon, T. (1997). “Bridging the Credibility of Gaap: Individual Donors and the New Accounting Standards for Nonprofit Organizations.” Accounting Horizon, 11(3), 45-68. 358 FISCHER, GORDON, KRAUT & MALONE Kinney, W. R., Jr., & McDaniel, L. S. (1993). “Audit Delays for Corms Correcting Quarterly Earnings.” Auditing - A Journal of Practice & Theory, 12(2), 135-142. Lawrence, J., & Bryan, B. (1998). “Characteristics Associated with Audit Delay.” Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 10(2), 173-191. Lawson, G. H. (1972, July). “Distributable Profits and Dividends.” Management International Review, 12(2), 113-119. Lee, T. A. (1972, January). “The Relevance of Accounting Information Including Cash Flows.” The Accounting Magazine, 76(787), 30-34. Lee, T. A. (1978). “The Cash Flow Accounting Alternative for Corporate Financial Reporting.” In C. van Dam (Ed.). Trends in Managerial and Financial Accounting, Boston, MA: Martinus Nijholf. Lee, T. A. (1981, September). “A survey of accountants’ opinion on cash flow reporting.” Abacus, 17(2), 130-145. Lee, T. A. (1983, June). “Funds Statements and Cash Flow Analysis.” The Investment Analyst, 69, 13-21. Lee, T. A. (Ed.) (1993). Cash Flow Reporting: A Recent History of an Accounting Practice. New York: Garland. McLelland, A. J., & Giroux, G. (1998). “The Determinants of Timely Audit Report Filings by Municipalities: An Empirical Analysis.” (Working Paper). Lubbock, TX: Texas A & M University. Neill, D., Schaefer, T., Bahnson, P., & Bradbury, M. (1991). “The Usefulness of Cash Flow Data: A Review and Synthesis.” Journal of Accounting Literature, 10, 117-150. Rappaport. A. (1988, November). “Cash Flow Analysis of Corporate Performance.” Finance: A Guide to Creating Shareholder Value, 13(9), 80-86. Rubin, M. (1992). “Municipal Selection of a State or External Auditor for Financial Statement Audits.” Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 11(2), 155-178. Sondhi, A. C., Sorter, G. H., & White, G. I. (1987, Sptember/October). “Transactional Analysis.” Financial Analysts Journal, 43(5), 57-64. Sondhi, A. C., Sorter, G. H., Ross, V. C., & White, G. I. (1988, November/December). “Cash Flow Redefined: FAS 95 and Security Analysis.” Financial Analyst’s Journal, 44(6), 19-20. Wolk, H. I., & Tearney, M. G. (1997). Accounting Theory. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing.