Financial challenges are frequently viewed as the cause rather than the outcome of institutional stress. But the opposite is equally true. When programmatic and educational initiatives falter, finances suffer. Therefore, separating causes from outcomes is critical to success.

Effective financial management is a holistic exercise supporting the creation and control of revenue streams that are relevant to an institution’s goals, prioritize its mission and reflect a sophisticated knowledge of fiscal administration and best practices. These include budget building, accounting principles, the financial markets, taxation and the law. It is also dependent upon and directly tied to a realistic, cogent and strategic long range plan.

Informed by a thorough knowledge of an organization’s structure and concomitant resource allocation, successful financial managers are creative partners in an integrated team that supports the values of faculty, the needs of students and the responsibilities of administrators. Their decisions are responsible but not arbitrary, entrepreneurial but not profligate, and despite the tension implicit in their role as gatekeepers, they are viewed by staff and faculty alike as part of the solution, not the problem.

Guided by these principles and based on many years of successful financial planning, supervision and management, Objective Focus brings knowledgeable professionals and an unbiased analysis to the review of an institution’s financial planning, organization, and oversight.