Clarify Your Institution's Financial    Picture

Os impactos imediatos do covid-19 resultaram em ações rápidas e pensativas dos líderes institucionais; Muitas ações exigiram mudanças substanciais de recursos para promover a segurança da comunidade, os resultados da aprendizagem, a redução de riscos e a estabilidade financeira. Assim como premente, no entanto, tem sido o colapso dos valores de doação e os riscos associados a chamadas de capital, convênios de dívida e refinanciamento de títulos de curto prazo. Desafios, incluindo o potencial de apropriações significativamente reduzidas e a incerteza contínua da inscrição, defendem a estabilização da empresa e as considerações de transformação de longo prazo. A estrutura se concentra na estabilização, mas enfatiza a necessidade de explorar oportunidades de transformação fundamental.

The first financial impacts that received attention were the declines in operating revenues (auxiliaries, summer programs, athletics, etc.) and, as relevant, the associated refunding of student payments. Just as pressing, however, have been the meltdown of endowment values, and the risks associated with capital calls, tripped debt covenants and short-term bond refinancing. Challenges, including the potential for significantly reduced appropriations and continuing enrollment uncertainty, make the case for enterprise wide stabilization and longer-term transformation considerations.

Huron has outlined a framework for higher education’s evolution through this pandemic and economic uncertainty. The framework focuses on stabilization but emphasizes the need to explore opportunities for fundamental transformation.

Aqui estão exemplos de ações financeiras que os líderes devem considerar à medida que navegam. A maioria dos líderes girou ...

As leaders responded to urgent needs early in the pandemic’s disruption, there were multiple immediate actions required and the list is still worth reviewing. Most leaders turned to scenario models to forecast the near-term net revenue and cash flow picture to effectively size the impact of strategic and operational changes. Variables in these models have typically included the institution’s own COVID-19 responses, as well as anticipated student and third-party responses. Institutional leadership should also have conducted a careful review of debt covenants to ensure compliance with ratio maintenance and notice requirements, seeking advance waivers from creditors if ratios cannot be met or if material adverse change disclosures are needed. Additionally, these are areas in which action should likely have been taken:

• Frequência de pagamento de contas a pagar, estendendo os prazos de pagamento, se apropriado. Chamadas. Terceirização de contratos e outros acordos contratuais. Considerando todas essas variáveis, os líderes também devem estar preparados para responder conforme necessário aos credenciadores, agências de classificação e autoridades estaduais sobre seus planos financeiros. Cenários
• Accounts and pledges receivable for potential write-downs.
• Current balances of cash and investments, including liquidity measures.
• Investment vehicles for potential private equity capital calls.
• Derivative financial instrument requirements, understanding circumstances that would trigger collateral posting.
• Business interruption insurance coverage levels and exclusions.

Institutions have also been collaborating with their contractual partners to quantify potential liabilities arising from guaranteed minimum revenues in public-private partnerships and to assess commitments required pursuant to union contracts, outsourcing contracts and other contractual arrangements. Considering all these variables, leaders should also be prepared to respond as needed to accreditors, ratings agencies and state authorities regarding their financial plans.

A focus during the stabilization phase is to create an understandable cash and investment report that leaders can use to gauge institutional liquidity and to make time-sensitive decisions. Developing more extensive cash flow monitoring and updating projections with current known data will help provide a clearer picture of the institution’s financial standing. Institutions may need to explore available borrowing options to optimize operating liquidity. Other critical stabilizing steps include:

• priorizando os gastos que fornecem um retorno do investimento. afetando a saúde e a segurança.
• Redirecting funding to support transformations in academic delivery models.
• Exploring fiscal policies such as hiring freezes, procurement limitations and purchasing card restrictions.
• Evaluating capital and major maintenance projects planned for summer, prioritizing those affecting health and safety.
• Avaliando as compras de equipamentos planejados para identificar aqueles que podem ser cancelados ou diferidos. Em andamento. As instituições precisam de modelos abrangentes de planejamento orçamentário que envolvam profundamente as partes interessadas com o conjunto certo de dados e incentivos. Tais modelos de orçamento permitem um foco intencional em Ajustes ao portfólio acadêmico e de pesquisa da instituição para garantir um mix de programas sustentáveis ​​e a correspondência apropriada de recursos com as prioridades institucionais.
• Evaluating waiver, discounting and endowment spending policies for potential changes.

Another critical function for financial leaders during this period will be to manage campus expectations with respect to upcoming fiscal years’ budgets while course-correcting the planning processes already underway.

As leaders consider their opportunities for longer-term transformation, it will be necessary to rethink the institution’s approach to resource planning, allocation and management. Institutions need comprehensive budget planning models that deeply engage stakeholders with the right set of data and incentives. Such budgeting models allow for an intentional focus on adjustments to the institution’s academic and research portfolio to ensure a sustainable program mix and appropriate matching of resources with institutional priorities.

Os modelos devem incluir planos financeiros de vários anos, ferramentas de relatório precisas, cenários transformadores e contingências para que os líderes possam ser preparados para quaisquer interrupções futuras de serviço e, o mais importante, permanecem à frente das mudanças macroeconômicas. Para obter mais informações,

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