Comparative Analysis of Internal Reporting at Higher Education Institutions of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Efficient management is one of the key challenges for every higher education institution. That is especially highlighted in conditions of increased demands on the one side and decreased or limited financial resources on the other side. One of the most important preconditions for the aforementioned issue is the quality accounting information system at higher education institutions. Financial reports that are obligatory by the normative framework are not sufficient for quality decision-making process. Therefore, it is inevitable to develop internal reporting systems that would fit the specifics of higher education system and internal users’ requirements, primarily management. Developed higher education institutions have already developed instruments of cost and managerial accounting from which they prepare different internal reports. In that context, this paper aims to present level of usage of internal reports at higher education institutions of developing countries, more precisely Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authors have conducted the empirical research based on questionnaires in the year 2016. The questionnaires were sent to all public higher education institutions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through conducted research, authors have provided answers on several research questions primarily focused on main reasons for preparing internal reports, time period for preparing internal reports and usage of internal reports. The results of this paper might be very useful for further development of internal reporting systems of observed countries. But also it can be very helpful for all countries that are in the similar situation and are facing the problem of development of quality accounting information system that will be a base for more efficient and effective management at higher education institutions.