An Evaluation of the System of Central Financial Control of Research in State Governments Bulletin of the National Research Council (1924) / Chapter Skim
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The Limits of Central Financial Control
The Limits of Central Financial Control
Pages 123-140
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From page 123... ...
In order further to ensure efficiency most states now authorize a central purchasing agency to make all purchases for the various departments, and likewise authorize a central printing board or agency to contract for, and sometimes determine, the amount and character of public printing. In order to make the- financial history of the state more intelligible and to make central financial control more effective, more elaborate accounting systems have usually been installed.
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From page 124... ...
It is perfectly clear that a mere reading of the statute does not suffice to obtain an accurate picture of the real situation; but it is equally clear in broad generalization that a scientific agency formerly vested with power to purchase its own supplies, to contract for its own printing, to send its investigators on such journeys as seemed to it desirable, that approved its own vouchers, prepared its own budget, and appeared directly before the legislature, by whom it was granted a lump-sum appropriation, cannot enjoy the freedom implied in these statements under a system of central financial control. The important question, however, and the one to which an answer is sought in these pages, is: Has this loss of freedom been a detriment to the prosecution of scientific research in state government; and if so to what extent, and how can the loss resulting to the state therefrom be avoided?
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From page 125... ...
There is less complaint about central purchasing than might have been anticipated. This is due in part to the fact that some scientific agencies have been allowed to purchase from University stores, and in part to a general willingness to allow scientific divisions practically to purchase for themselves scientific apparatus and in some cases
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From page 126... ...
It must be remembered, however, that a fair construction of the use of contingency funds would seldom make them available for the prosecution of research, since they are designed primarily to care for unforeseen emergencies in the administration of state policies, as for example an epidemic, or an outbreak of some plant disease. For such purposes the central financial agency is, of course, prepared to make the necessary additional grants.
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From page 127... ...
The function of the finance department is primarily to secure economy and avoid deficits; it is safe to hazard the opinion that the architects of the new financial structure did not intend it to control policy. The policy-forming agency of the state is the legislature, in conjunction with the governor; but when once the policy has been fixed by legislation or by an appropriation act, it is the duty of the executive simply to translate the policy into fact Frnm thin nnint.
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From page 128... ...
Practice, however, sometimes deals quickly with logical difficulties, and in this case a working arrangement seems to be developing which may easily become a tradition, by virtue of which the research and scientific divisions retain all necessary freedom in their wcxk. The writer has been constantly impressed with the contrast between the legal statement and the actual operation of the system of financial control here under discussion.
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From page 129... ...
It appears, therefore, tnar Anne scent ~ve~u~ ~not expect to make forward strides under adverse political conditions, it can be reasonably sure of freedom from political interference. It may conduce to clarity if a statement of the limits of central financial control be hazarded.
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From page 130... ...
Experience up to the present tine, however, so far as the writer can judge, indicates that scientific research is not likely to super from positive ill-will on the one hand nor from petty attacks on the other.47 The statement of the limits of central financial control in the preceeding paragraphs involves a modification of the power occasionally exercised by the finance department in Illinois to refuse to approve requisitions of proposed expenditure, and of the power of the Massachusetts Commission on Administration and Finance to edit scientific manuscripts. The writer believes that the department of finance should be vested with authority to recommend reductions in the budget as submitted to the legislature, in order to establish a financial policy for the state as a whole; he believes also that controlling accounts may properly be kept, in order to ascertain the financial situation of the state at any moment; he believes further that the finance department may properly question any proposed expenditure and ask for a reconsideration thereof; but that after such reconsideration the judgment of the scientific division, within an appropriation, should prevail.
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From page 131... ...
Where it seems impossible to solve the problem of central financial control in other ways it may be that recognition of the university as the natural center of scientific investigation, and assignment to it of work accomplished only under difficult conditions elsewhere, is a satisfactory escape. This solution, however, is not recommended in all cases, and in any case only with certain reserves.
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From page 132... ...
R Mann of the New York Agricultural College throws much light upon the contemporary situation regarding central financial controls so far as the land-grant colleges and state universities are concerned.
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From page 133... ...
In the last analysis the scope and range of scientific investigation in state government will be determined by the attitude of the state legislature toward the men who direct this work. If they stand apart from the established regime, demand special treatment, and show themselves unwilling to conform, the men who make up the legislature will scarcely be sympathetic toward their requests for enlarged appropriation.
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From page 134... ...
The operation of the Illinois Code caused a great deal of friction and irritation during the first years of its existence; but the official who made written protest to the governor against the interference of the Department of Finance now believes in retrospect that he was wrong and that the powers of the finance department should be greater rather than less. In Illinois the writer found the scientific departments satisfied with the new system, and in several cases emphatic in their preference for it over the old.
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From page 135... ...
North American forest research. Compiled by the Committee on American Forest Research, Society of American Foresters.
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From page 136... ...
Proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting of the Advisory Board on Highway Research, Division of Engineering, National Research Council. William Kendrick Hatt.
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From page 137... ...
Proceedings of the Third Annual Meeting of the Advisory Board on Highway Research, Division of Engineering, National Research Council. Edited by William Kendrick Hatt and E
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From page 138... ...
Doctorates conferred in the sciences in Ago by American universities. Compiled by Callie Hull.
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From page 139... ...
Number 26. Doctorates conferred in the sciences by American universities in ~9~.
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From page 140... ...
Clarence J West and Callie Hull.
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