Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.
Accounting and financial management play an integral role in the overall management of a recharge center. Colleges, universities, research centers as well as other healthcare administrators operate in a complex and often demanding financial environment, which is why it is important that there be a solid accounting solutions program in place. Often, financial management reporting can be broken down by the following items.
- Will have on the report: code, description, budget, encumbrances, expenses and balances
- Once you’re beyond the purchase of the equipment, personnel costs are among the largest costs and are more difficult to manage especially when you get into centers where the salaries are split. Project the salary (in encumbrances) ahead of time.
- Income based on different services that are provided (I.e. labor, etc.)
- Expenses- (i.e. salaries & benefits, travel, etc.)
- Current period versus prior period
- This is a combination of the first two reports and combines the concept of a budget report with a P&L statement → allows you to merge different funding sources into one report
- Three different types of funds can be used: Center, Dept. Funds, Core Grant
- Department funds may be a shared source (may be used for something not related to the facility) → accounting system needs to have coding that will separate the funds
- Changing rates of pay into amounts of money
- Broken down by: description | unit | quantity | amount
- This allows you to see which service is generating the most amount of money
- You’re looking at the analysis by service
- Looking at the principal investigator: (investigator | amount ) → gives you an idea of who you are doing the most work for. It is in your best interest that those people stay funded
- This is broken down as follows: Investigator | Title | Sponsor | Start Date | Direct Req.
For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.