PurposeThe purpose of the current study is to assess some of the self‐reported factors that students in the study used as choice criteria in making their school selection.Design/methodology/approachThe results of this study were obtained by conducting a series of focus groups involving incoming freshmen at a small liberal arts university located in the south eastern part of the USA. The focus groups were conducted to obtain insight into the factors that led this particular group of freshmen to the school and, second, to determine what areas were not living up to their expectations. The authors later surveyed a large sample (450 students) of the incoming freshman class using a questionnaire that was developed from the input obtained during the focus groups.FindingsAnalysis of gap scores for the student population used in this study indicates that the current group does not consider their university a “quality” institution. Additionally, the importance‐performance grid (I‐P grid) points towards a lack of perceived quality, as only two of the dimensions considered actually fall into the “keep up the good work” quadrant.Research limitations/implicationsThe primary limitation of this study is the scope and size of its sample. Because the study involved a single group of university students from one university, the results cannot be generalized across a university‐wide spectrum. Nonetheless, the study does provide evidence for the development and use of the I‐P grid on those occasions calling for preliminary identification and assessment of student measures of service quality.Originality/valueBy demonstrating the feasibility of the approach taken by the authors, it should be possible for university officials to utilize similar procedures when evaluating the overall satisfaction levels of their students’ educational experience.

Environmental accounting is on an expansion path. With increasing social focus on the environment, accounting fills an expectation role, to measure environmental performance. The status of environmental awareness provides a dynamic for business reporting its environmental performance. Examining the integration of environmental policy with business policy is the focus of this research. The business firm's strategy includes responding to capital and operating costs of pollution control equipment. This is caused by increasing public concerns over environmental issues, and by a recent government‐led trend to incentive‐based regulation. This paper describes the environmental component of the business strategy, producing the required performance reports and recognizing the multiple skills required to measure, compile and analyze the requisite data. Special emphasis of the research is on generation of reports and their standards, for the range of business and regulatory purposes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Purpose -To provide a framework for an objective "scorecard" for performance of academic administrators. Design/methodology/approach -Literature reviews show that business organizations, as well as academic institutions, are fundamentally rethinking their strategies and operations because of changing environment and calls for more accountability to government and the public. The balanced scorecard is described as a novel approach to face these challenges. Findings -The balanced scorecard has been shown as an effective tool to evaluate an organization, and its performance. Performance is identified as the linkage between outcomes and the multiple factors affecting those strategic outcomes. Research limitation/implications -While the study provides a general framework for a balanced scorecard to academic institutions, it does not provide an exhaustive list of academic goals and associated measures for evaluation. Practical implications -A very useful guidance to academic administrators in their search for ways to improve institutional effectiveness and demonstrate accountability to government and the public. Originality/value -The study offers insights on how to translate the business basis of the balanced scorecard to the academic setting.

American universities, colleges and schools are uniformly moving toward modernisation and innovation in their academic programs. Nowhere is this more evident than in professional degree programs. The impetus behind the move is overall to produce quality graduates prepared for the changing environment and its demands of the 21st century. Another impetus is survival in the academic competition for students and revenue. A force that affects both impetuses is technology, both the technology of professional practice and the technology of educational delivery. This paper is in two parts. The first part provides a comparison of changes in four professional degree programs in U.S. institutions. Accounting and Engineering at the baccalaureate level, and Business and Law at the graduate level. The second describes early efforts in the application of "total quality management" to curriculum planning and implementation.

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