Finance

Q.1     The main roles and responsibilities of the Assistant Chief financial Officer include managing the administration of financial aid through enforcing financial procedures, documentation and keeping records tracking, planning, following up and scheduling for interviews. This officer is also responsible for motivating and managing the staff towards ensuring that the available finances are utilized properly and that the employees are well remunerated. The A.C.F.O is also responsible for the management of accounts receivable activities and the termination of non-properly working or delinquent accounts analyzing the output and giving all information regarding the student and agency finance, as well as providing technical leadership assistance to teams and department leaders. The A.C.F.O is also responsible for ensuring that regulatory compliance is maintained, maintaining customer satisfaction through making improvements and developments based on customer feedback systems (Bruce  Marcucci, 2003, 10).

Q.2     The office of budget and management works closely with the higher education board, the institutional personnel management department and the American Association of University professors (Levine, 2000, pg 23).

Q.3 the main sources of funding for higher education institutions include local property taxes which are levied on properties like halls and furniture, the student fees paid in as tuition charges and other payments. The other main sources of finances include the general sources of funds like institution based businesses and federal funding from the state among other minor sources of financing (Bruce  Marcucci, 2003, 10).
One of the restrictions placed on the finances available at the endowment account is the investment of the moneys into a savings account or low-risk business to allow the amount to grow for future long or short term usage (Bruce  Marcucci, 2003, 10).

Q.4 The budget process for a higher education institution involves the following phases the preliminary budget planning, departmental planning, director or dean level planning, vice presidential level planning then the planning at the institutional level. The other phases of the process involve the general budget guideline planning, the official approval practice, scenario funding and then the last stage of beginning and ending with the goals and objectives of the budget process. The participants of the planning process include the president and the vice-president faculty and staff heads the deans or directors and other institutional advisory groups. The other departments contribute through assessment of the set goals and objectives towards establishing necessary adjustments and cost estimation towards the overall process. The budget finalizing step involves request based description of the different plans with reference to purpose, program, cost and benefits. The budget approval process involves the forwarding of the budget plan to the board of regents who after approval forward it to the higher education state regents. After the state regents approve the budget, the draft is forwarded to the state finance office for the final approval (Rhoades, 1998, pg 34).

Q.5 The processes involved in budget accountability at the different levels of management with regard to overruns and deficiencies include the creation of an account as a review of the resource use and performance with regard to the initial expectations and plans. Sanctions are also put into action in the cases of unacceptable variations from prospects. Budget reforms also forms another process that can be used for correcting this case (Rewick, 2001).

Q.6 the penalties for any individual charged over budget mismanagement may involve the offenders being required to pay a fine a case under which the fine to be paid is subject to the amount misappropriated. The other penalty may involve the case where, the offender is suspended from their official duties for a specified length of time with or without pay and in other cases the individual may be relieved of their duties (Park, 2007).

Q.7. These institutions may become victims of finance runs a case under which the investors contributing to the finances accounted for, in the budget withdraw their support. In such a case, these institutions can look for alternative sources of funding. Speculative crashes crisis may also take place where the prices of products held by the institutions fall requiring the institution to release them at low returns. In such a case these institutions may choose to hold the assets till the price rises to avoid the loss. International financial crisis which take place in the case the currency of the home country hosting the institution devalues its currency due to a speculative attack makes the institution not capable of paying for their sovereign debts. In such a case the institution may choose to postpone the payment of the debts till the home currency regains value (Rewick, 2001).