Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Shery Bennett
Committee Member
Gary Reglin
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
accountability, accounting practices, athletic departments, budget allocations, budgeting, cross-sectional research, descriptive statistics, fiscal accountability, fiscal equity, funding, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), management practices, revenue generation, staff development, staff training, strategic planning, survey research Show more lines
Abstract
Athletic departments at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) were not performing well due to anomalies in accounting systems. Further, because the HBCUs lacked the funding, staff, and training necessary to support such programs, strategic plans were needed to help establish better accounting systems in HBCUs. This goal involved training staff within the athletic departments to take full responsibility for their fiscal accountability.
The researcher developed two surveys to provide a quantitative assessment, to make recommendations, and to develop ideas for training that would strengthen the fiscal accountability of athletic department personnel. The research questions for this study were as follows:
1. What were the problem areas with the current spending budgets?
2. How did the targeted university plan to improve faith in the athletic program to repair accounting practices?
3. How did the university obtain funding and plan to make sure that management practices were held accountable?
4. How did the university make sure that current staff members were properly trained?
The study involved a cross-sectional research design, and survey data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. This exploratory research was expected to yield information that would (a) identify problems and potential solutions to elevate the university’s football program as part of an initiative to grow revenue for the athletic department, thereby making the department self-sufficient; (b) increase the security procedures within the fiscal accountability system to avoid loss of assets; and (c) assist personnel in developing training programs for athletic department staff.
The analysis plan for this study was expected to reveal staff members’ perceptions regarding ways to improve the functioning of the overall department. This study was designed to identify and analyze critical issues and success factors, as well as revenue, expenses, and operational variables, for the development and implementation of a strategic plan for training staff. The study provided recommendations on staff development to achieve these goals. The results of this study indicate a need for larger studies to investigate the fiscal accountability of HBCU athletic departments. Overall, the results represented an excellent first step in establishing a measure of accountability assessment for HBCUs.