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Improving the efficiency of a community mental health agency: An accountant's view
Author(s) -
Birnberg Jacob G.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00885661
Subject(s) - mental health , agency (philosophy) , library science , citation , health psychology , sociology , psychology , media studies , management , public health , medicine , computer science , psychiatry , social science , nursing , economics
This paper describes the rules for the proper implementation of a responsibility accounting system in a mental health center. Responsibility accounting, which relates the costs to the functions that authorize their incurrence, is presented as a technique that aids the unit's manager in controlling costs. The article discusses the rules that should be followed for proper cost association, presents a illustrative statement for a mental health center, and discusses some existing practices, such as line--item accounting, that may appear to conform to good responsibility accounting practices but in reality do not.