School, college, and university financial management: Legal issues, outcomes, trends, and guidelines for educational personnel

Educational institutions represent an enormous financial investment, involving billions of dollars and millions of individuals each year. Most school personnel have little, if any, training in financial management. This study addresses the issue of "asset misappropriation," a term coined by Joseph Wells in his article "Enemies Within: Asset Misappropriation Comes In Many Forms," to refer to any type of misplacement of funds, whether through simple mistakes, unethical behavior, or criminal activity. With dollars shrinking and increased attention on accountability, there is no room for asset misappropriation of public funds. Greater attention needs to be given to proper accounting practices, how funds are appropriated, and the legal issues regarding public funds.;The costs of maintaining educational institutions are escalating while at the same time funds are decreasing. Greater scrutiny is being given to how educational institutions manage their finances. There is a growing resentment among citizens concerning the level of taxation. With the publicity surrounding recent financial scandals such as Enron and Health South, taxpayers are skeptical and cynical about how efficiently, effectively, and ethically their tax dollars are being managed.;Through an analysis of court cases and related material in education, legal, and business journals, this study provides insight into the legal issues, outcomes, trends and guidelines before the courts in the area of asset misappropriation, enlightens educators in the area of school financial management, and perhaps, will help prevent many of the possible legal entanglements. This qualitative, descriptive study involves 93 court cases identified through West's Education Law Reporter and West's Education Law Digest over a 25-year time period from 1981-2006. Cases are analyzed using the format outlined by Statsky and Wernet in their book, Case Analysis and Fundamentals of Legal Writing, 4th Ed., and are divided into three categories: Fiscal Management, Theft of Property, and Fraudulent Activities. From the research, twenty-five guidelines are established in order to help enlighten educators regarding financial management and hopefully foster an understanding of the critical need for educators to be aware of the responsibility they hold as caretakers of the taxpayer's hard-earned money.