Finance Fundamentals for the IR Professional

Many IR offices shy away from analyses that have dollar signs involved. We may know all the details of our enrollments, but as soon as we multiply that by our tuition rates, many IR professionals start to feel out of place. Very few institutions have IR-type skillsets embedded within their finance organizations, and few IR professionals have learned how to read financial statements or use the IPEDS Finance data to benchmark their institution. Yet it is through combining both realms of data that we can evaluate not just the effectiveness of our initiatives but their efficiency as well.

This webinar is intended to kickstart IR professionals’ understanding of higher education finance. We will discuss the terminology used within financial organizations, concepts such as cost accounting and accounting standards, how to read a financial statement, and what data is available within IPEDS or other public sources. Finally, we will discuss how financial data is used and who uses it, including talking about the different ways in which users of financial data understand their questions and the data (such as enrollments) that they use to contextualize it, for both retrospective reporting and prospective forecasting types of analyses. 

As a result of this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the terminology of finance, accounting, and budget, including cost accounting and the various accounting standards.
  • Read and make sense of an institutions financial statement.
  • Use the IPEDS finance survey to benchmark their institution.

Registration Information

A recording of this webinar will be available for 30 days from the time of purchase.

Length/Time Commitment

2 Hours


Recorded Date: 11/10/2021

Format: On Demand

Topic: Reporting

Experience Level: All

Member/Non-Member Price: $99 Member/$129 Nonmember

Presenter(s): Rebecca Barber, Associate Vice President and Chief Budget Officer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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