Development of Cost Accounting in Higher Education Institutions in the Republic of Croatia

This paper aims to present the level of development of cost accounting in the Higher Education Institutions (further HEI’s) through conducted empirical researches. The main objective of this paper is to highlight that for quality decisions making at HEI’s it is necessary to have relevant information about costs. Using different methods for managing costs, information about costs are significantly different. Based on that, the process of decision making and decision made on costs could vary. To examine the level of cost accounting used in HEI’s, the research based on the questionnaire was conducted in the year 2006 and 2014. The questionnaire was sent to all HEI’s in Republic of Croatia, more precisely to the Deans of HEI’s and to the Head of Accounting of HEI’s. The authors have set the main hypothesis that cost accounting tools are still not enough used in Croatian HEI’s. The results of conducted research have shown that cost accounting in Croatian HEI’s is still undeveloped and still not sufficiently used in the process of decision making and funding of HEI’s. Moreover, authors have highlighted that some cost accounting instruments, e.g., cost allocation, are used less in 2014 than in 2006. The authors have also pointed out several potential obstacles for implementation of cost accounting in the accounting systems of HEI’s. Also, in the paper, the authors have provided possible recommendations for implementation and better usage of cost accounting in Croatian HEI’s.