Chief Financial Officers, Comptrollers, Treasurers,

¶ … Chief Financial Officers, Comptrollers, Treasurers, Reimbursement Directors, and Internal Auditors to name some positions. Why (or why not) are all of these positions necessary in today's health care setting? There are a significant number of facets in today's healthcare system. Therefore, it is important to have enough people to cover all the different areas required in health care especially when it comes to the financial aspect. Each individual plays an intricate role in how money is utilized by the company, how money and funding is obtained as well as ways to utilize funding better year to year. First, let us start by understanding the role of each person mentioned above.

The chief Financial Officer's (CFO) primary job function is to manage the financial risk of the company he/she works with. Along with this pertinent job function, this position is also responsible for financial planning, record keeping, and reporting all of these findings and information to upper management. Bresnahan (2000) explains that the role of the CFO has grown to include forecasting and communicating financial performance. On the other hand Comptrollers are described as the individuals that oversee and supervise cash flow within a company, organization etc. Usually the comptroller is the accountant within the organization.

Netterville & Dennis (1996) explain that a treasurer is the individual that often records contributions and pays the bills within an organization. Additional staff depending on the amount of work and the amount of money being handled often also accompanies this position. Reimbursement Directors however play an extremely pertinent roll. These individuals aid in assuring that individuals i.e. physicians are paid for their services.

Moreno (1991) expresses how though we as patients may not like it; patient care is inevitably influenced by decisions regarding payment. In fact, society uses reimbursement as a mechanism to promote other social values, such as efficiency, cost containment, and the just allocation of health care resources, which may be at odds with benefit to the individual patient. In an effort to allocate resources wisely, physicians have been identified as gatekeepers who can be pressured, primarily through reimbursement mechanisms, to make cost-conscious decisions within a framework of advocacy for the welfare of individual patients. (p. 13)

Trampe (1998) states that Auditors can provide senior management with vital information about the value of the company being acquired, its financial condition, any weaknesses in its financing or internal controls as well as its history, customer base, property conditions and management practices. However, due diligence is only one aspect of the services an internal audit department can -- and should -- perform in specific instances. Frequently, internal auditors are overlooked as players on that team. Management often sees them only as fact checkers and not as a source of important new information. This is not the case. Because internal auditors already have in-depth knowledge of the operations and employees in every important area of the acquiring company, they can be extremely valuable as key advisers to senior management throughout the process, resulting in both calculable and incalculable savings.

First one must decide which system best suits the organization.Cook, Grove & Coburn (2000) explains that Activity-based costing (ABC) systems were developed to provide more accuracy in assigning indirect and support costs to activities, business processes, products, services, and customers. ABC systems have recognized that organizational resources are needed both for direct production of goods and services and for indirect or support activities. The goal of ABC is to measure and then price out all the resources used for activities that generate the production of goods and services for customers. An ABC system first traces costs to support activities and then to products. Traditional product costing has also involved two stages; however, in the first stage, costs are traced to departments, not activities. In both traditional and ABC cost systems, the second and last stage consists of tracing costs to the products or services. The principal difference between the two methods is the number and type of cost drivers used. The traditional product costing systems used allocation bases that may or may not have been cost drivers. For example, many companies have found that direct labor was not a cost driver and may never have been a cost driver, especially in highly automated production environments. The ABC system uses a much larger number and variety of cost drivers than the one or two volume-based cost drivers typical for a traditional cost system. As a result, the ABC method has increased accuracy.

In contracts, it is explained that a traditional cost system uses only volume-based cost drivers, such as direct labor and machine hours, and ignores the key role of support activities, such as number of setups and design changes, in producing many modern products and services. Such volume-based cost drivers often lead to one group of products subsidizing another group of products. These subsidies often create the appearance that one group of products is highly profitable, adversely affecting the pricing and competitiveness of another group of products. In a highly competitive environment with complex products and services, accurate cost information can be critical to sound planning and decision-making. (Cook, Grove & Coburn, 2000, p. 305)

Vargas (2006) describes that an endowment is an investment that provides endless support to charitable causes. It is an investment in the future. Endowments are permanent. They are funds with the requirement that the principal is never spent. The balance in these funds is invested, earning income that is then spent to support charitable works in perpetuity. He concludes by discussing the three types of endowment to choose from Endowment for the Common Good, Field of Interest Endowment, and Designated Endowment. 1.) an Endowment for the Common Good is a gift that allows a foundation to respond to the constantly changing needs of its region. This type of fund is not limited to a specific cause, but available for the most critical needs of the community as they arise. 2.) a Field of Interest Endowment is a gift that helps sustain programs or organizations in specific areas of interest. These programs and organizations are selected by the donor and reflect his or her passion in areas such as education, health and human services, the arts, historic preservation and environmental protection, to name a few. 3.) a Designated Endowment is a gift that provides a permanent source of support to a nonprofit organization selected by the donor

Kirkegaard (1997) proposes that the concept of liquidity is extremely familiar in the theory of accounting and financing. It is defined as having a direct relationship with the action of "paying." Enterprises or individuals are said to be liquid at a moment or within a period when they are able to pay their due debts now or within the period concerned. Payment can be made either in cash or by using references to cash. The daily language of accounting contains expressions such as "liquid capital" or simply "liquidity," terms that simply refer to means of payment that are easily accessible. In practice, "liquid capital" and "liquidity" can have three and only three forms. The ability to pay can be demonstrated by the presence of means of payment in the form of: cash holdings, deposits in bank accounts of various kinds, and prearranged rights to draw on credits of various kinds.