An essential and comprehensive guide to university finances.

In University Finances, higher education expert Dean O. Smith

• demystifies basic accounting procedures, budgets, debt financing, and financial statements
• explores more unusual financial topics, such as methods for calculating fringe benefit rates, bond refunding costs, and indirect cost allocations
• shows that the use of university wealth is highly restricted by donors, bondholders, government regulators, and others
• answers nuanced questions, like "How are USDA formula funds calculated?" and "Why does the university pursue more and more research funding when it loses money on every grant?"
• illustrates financial calculations using realistic examples

Some of these explanations are unavailable in print or online to anyone but a handful of professional accountants. Rigorous, detailed, and wide-ranging, University Finances is a unique and powerful resource.

Dean O. Smith has served in the higher administration of four major universities: the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Texas Tech University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the University of Hawaii, where he is now professor emeritus. He is the author of Managing the Research University and Understanding Authority in Higher Education.