HISTORY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING MODELS FOR AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: 1910 TO THE PRESENT

This paper contrasts current and proposed higher-education financial reporting models with financial reporting models developed earlier in this century. The historical review in this paper has current value since the FASB and the GASB are considering major changes in the way that private and public colleges and universities report financial information. The results of the historical review reveal that, through the years, report modelers varied in their concern for user needs and report uniformity. Interestingly, the first higher-education reporting model developed in 1910 and the proposed model developed in 1992 by the FASB both focused on user needs while the primary objective for the reporting model currently in use and most other intervening models was only uniformity.