Nghiên cứu phương pháp xác định chi phí đào tạo ở các trường đại học công lập thực hiện cơ chế tự chủ tài chính TT TIENG ANH

1 INTRODUCTION The problem is how public universities in Vietnam can properly and fully calculate the training costs, which are still familiar with the average allocation of the state budget based on input and applying cash flow accounting method to control, which has not been innovated so far In fact, public universities in Vietnam are still confused in calculating training costs when implementing financial autonomy (World Bank, 2016; Pham Thi Hoa Hanh, 2018) For example, determining enrollment quotas, deciding on tuition fees, choosing training methods, prioritizing training programs, etc in these universities are not really based on training costinformation (Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan, 2019) On the other hand, because there are no specific guidelines in applying the costing systems to calculate training costs from the State management agencies as well as scientific documents for reference, public universities implementing financial autonomy not have enough reliable basis to choose and apply the appropriate costing system Research Rationality Along with the process of socio-economic reform known as “Doi Moi”, improving the quality of higher education to meet the development requirements of the country in the integration period is a matter of social concern Concretizing the education and training development strategy of the Party and State, the Government has issued relevant regulations to create a complete legal environment to gradually implement the autonomy mechanism for public universities (Government 2006; 2014; 2015; 2021) Accordingly, public universities are given autonomy and selfresponsibility in finance along with increased accountability to the State and society to ensure transparency This will create opportunities for public universities to improve their positivity and initiative in financial management, and to use the state budget in a more economical and efficient manner, but also increase accountability of public universities through accountability (Nguyen Thi Huong & Ta Ngoc Cuong, 2016) By the end of 2017, there were 23 public universities in whole country that were fully autonomous in recurrent and investment expenditures according to Resolution No 77/NQ-CP (MOET, 2017) According to the university autonomy roadmap, all public universities in Vietnam will implement full financial autonomy and tuition fees will have to cover all training costs (Government, 2015; 2021) Realizing financial autonomy according to the Party's guidelines and the State's policies requires the management of training costs based on effective use of resources, which needs to be enhanced to improve the quality of training in public universities (Tran Quang Trung, 2016) In addition, the accurate determination of unit costs by training industry is an important basis for managers to determine the level of tuition fees, which is reasonable price for providing training services (Nguyen Thi Dao, 2015).Moreover, in the context of increasingly difficult enrollment due to the impact of competition in the field of higher education, diversification of training programs, training disciplines and training types as the way to attract learners and that make cost management in public universities more and more difficult and complicated For making timely decisions and exploiting maximumly opportunities in an increasingly fierce competitive environment, timely and accurate training cost information is always permanent managers’ needs in public universities Therefore, in addition to analyzing the needs of society for each training discipline, training cost management is considered a key factor for public universities to determine their strengths in training (what training discipline? what training program? what kind of training?) to build a long-term development strategy Therefore, the study of costing systems to calculate training costs aims to build a suitable application basis for meeting the managers’ needs in public universities implementing financial autonomy is correctness and sufficient calculation of training costs, to providetraining costinformation for managers in making decisions based on the management and efficient use of financial resources in these institutions is essential (Pham Thi Hoa Hanh, 2018) Moreover, the costing systems applied must also aim to provide training cost information for managersin public universities can perform well their accountability to state management agencies and society according to the policies of financial autonomy (Government, 2015; 2021) Theoretically, the study of costing systems will make an important contribution in building management accounting models suitable to Vietnam's development conditions Up to now, there have been many research works related to training cost management in public universities, but none of them have directly mentioned the study of choosing to apply the costing systems to calculate training costs in public universities, especially in the condition that public universities exercise financial autonomy in Vietnam From the above issues, the implementation of a research with the title "Adoption of costing system for calculating training costs in public universities implementing financial autonomy" is appropriate and timely responds to the requirements posed practically Research Objectives The overall objective of the disertation is to adopt an appropriate costing system for public universities in the context of implementing financial autonomythat allow calculate training costs correctly, fully and meet the managers’ needs to make optimal decisions This objective can be detailed as follows: - To systematize theoretical issues about costing systems in public universities implementing financial autonomy; - Content scope:the thesis focuses on adoption of costing system to build an application base in accordance with the characteristics of training activities and the conditions of public universities implementing the financial autonomy.The calculation of training costs aims to calculate accurately and fully costs following cost objects Training costs in this case are identified as actual costs incurred by public universities implementing financial autonomy In the scope of this study, training costs are limited to training undergraduate students - To assess the application of costing system to calculate training costs and analyze factors affecting the suitability of the costing system applied at public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam; - To analyze adopting and applicating the costing system that is appropriate to training characteristics and conditions of the university with a case study at a public university implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam in order to ensure the correct calculation of training costs - To recommend adopting and applicating the costing system that is appropriate to training characteristics and conditions of the university implementing financial autonomy in order to properly and fully calculate training costs and suggest solutions to implement the proposed costing system to calculate training costs Research Questions To achieve the above research objectives, the thesis focuses on finding answers to the following questions: What are the characteristics of training costs and what costing systems can be applied to calculate training costs in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam? How is the situation of training cost calculation in public universities implementing the financial autonomy in Vietnam and what are factors affecting the suitability of costing system applied to calculate training cost in those universities? What are the bases for adopting an appropriate costing system, and how to deploy it to properly and fully calculate training costs to meet the managers’ needsin public universities implementing financial autonomy? - Spatial scope:The thesis is conducted inpublic universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam, excluding universities in the field of police and military Regarding the implementation of financial autonomy, the thesis focuses on three groups of universities, including: (1) The universities are autonomous in all recurrent and investment expenses; (2) The universities are autonomous in all recurrent expenses; and (3) The universities are autonomous in a part of recurrent expenses In addition, the case study is conducted at Vietnam National University of Agriculture - Temporal scope: Secondary information used in the thesis is collected in the school-years from 2015-2016 to 2018-2019 Primary information is collected in 2019 and to be used for analyzing and evaluating the situation of applying the costing systems, the level of meeting the managers’ needson training costs information, factors affecting the suitability of the costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam For the case study at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture,the dataset in 2017 is used to calculate training costs Ressearch Methodology What costing systems are suggested to be applied to calculateproperly and adequately training costs for public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam, and possible solutions to practise them? To solve the research problems posed as shown in the research objectives and research questions, both of qualitative and quantitative research methods are used The research methods are used in the thesis, including: litetature review, interview and survey, descriptive statistical analysis, scale evaluation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and case study analysis The use of research methods to solve research problems is detailed in Chapter Research Subject and Scope 6.Structure of the Disertation 4.1 Research Subjecs The thesis consists of four chapters, to be structured as follows: The research object of the thesis focuses on adoption of costing system to build an application base in accordance with the characteristics of training activities and the conditions of public universities implementing the financial autonomy - Chapter 1: Research overview and research methodology 4.2 Research Scope - Chapter 2: Theoretical basis of costing system in university - Chapter 3: Situation of training cost calculation in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam 5 - Chapter 4: Recommendations of costing system application for public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam CHAPTER 1: RESEARCHOVERVIEW AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1.1 Research overview on costing systems applied in university 1.1.1 Overview of oversear research (i) Need of training cost information use in university (ii)Costing systems applied in university (iii) Factors affecting suitability of costing system applied in university 1.1.2 Overview of domestic research (i) Organization of management accounting in university (ii) Costing systems applied in public university 1.1.3 Research gaps Based on the results of an overview of previous studies, it can be showed that: - There are manyresearch works abroad as well as in Vietnam related to training costs in universities, but these researches mainly refer to the content of training cost management, the role of training cost information in making management decision in universities, design of cost information in terms of operational cost management accounting, cost management - There has not been any researd focusing systematically on the application of costing system for public universities in Vietnam in terms of being able to calculateproperly and fully the training costs In particular, the State is promoting the implementation of the financial autonomy for public universities This requires public universities to change their governance methods to suit the financial autonomy environment Therefore, the thesis is designed to find a way to overcome the research gaps through the adoption of an appropriate costing system to meet the managers’ needs on training cost information in universities implementing the financial autonomy The costing system applied need to ensure to calculateproperly and fully training costs, improve cost efficiency on the principle of effective management and use of financial resources Moreover, the applied costing system must also aim at providing information on training costs so that administrators at public universities can perform well in their accountability to the State management agency and society (Government, 2015; 2021) 1.2 Research methodology 1.2.1 Research approach The disertation approaches the research problem in the way that organization of the cost accounting system to meet needs of management in public university implementing financial autonomy and adoption of costing system must be consistent with the characteristics of training activitiesand conditions of the university 1.2.2 Analytical framework Requiremenrs’ managers on training cost information Scale of training activities Characteristics of training activities Conditions and work environment Quality of accountants Characteristics of managers SITUATION OF TRAINING COST CALCULATION IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IMPLEMENTING FINANCIAL AUTONOMY Level of response requets of training cost information Situation of training cost calculation Factors affecting suitability of costing system applied ADOPTION OF APPROPRIATE COSTING SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IMPLEMENTING FINANCIAL AUTONOMY IN VIETNAM Regulations of financial autonomy for public universities Regulations of accounting for public universities Competition of providing training services Meeting managers’ needs on training cost information Figure1.1: Analytical framework of the research 1.2.3 Selection of research area According to the State's regulations on classification of public universities by the degree of financial autonomy in Decree 16/2015/ND-CP, later Decree 60/2021/ND-CP (Government, 2015; 2021), the thesis is conducted to research in public universities that realize financial autonomy at the following levels: (1) The universities areautonomous in all recurrent and investment expenses; (2) The universities are autonomous in all recurrent expenses; and (3) The universities are autonomous in a part of recurrent expenses However, by the time of the survey, there were notany public universitie in whole country that is autonomous in all recurrent and investment expenses Therefore, the thesis focuses on two groups of public universities implementing financial autonomy: Group - public universities autonomous in all recurrent and investment expenses; and Group - public universities are autonomous in a part of recurrent expenses 1.2.3 Research samle and Data collection Primary information using in the research is collected from subjects who working at public universities implementing financial autonomy, including: (1) managers at all levels involved in the provision and using information on training costs (Board of Directors, managers in departments such as finance - accounting, training management, and enrollment); and (2) Accountants involved in calculating training costs The way of collection is done through questionnaires combined with face-to-face interviews During the process of collecting primary data, there are 137/172 public universities implementing financial autonomy in whole country were contacted to send questionnaires or face-to-face interviews However, only 172 questionnaires from 86 public universities were completed Of the 86 public universities that completed the questionnaire, there were 19 public universities in Group and 67 public universities in Group The number of survey samples was synthesized based on useful questionnaires obtained from public universities implementing financial autonomy with different subjects is presented in Table 1.1 Table 1.1: Summary of subjects surveyed from public universities implementing financial autonomy Surveyed subject I Public universities Board of Rectors Chief accountant II Vietnam National University of Agriculture Board of Rectors Managers in Departments (Finance&Accounting, Training Management, Enrolment) Accountants No No subject Total university per university subjects 172 86 86 86 86 17 5 2 10 10 Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 1.2.4 Data analysis methods - Descriptive statistical analysis method: Descriptive statistical analysis method is used to reflect the characteristics, scale and results of training activities, and training costs of public universities implementing the financial autonomy mechanism This method is also used to describe the characteristics of 10 respondents/interviewers (managers at all levels and accountants) in public universities implementing financial autonomy verified by both of managers in Department of Finance& Accounting and cost accountants - Comparative analysis method: This method is used to compare the results of calculating training costs by the costing system that public university implementing the financial autonomy is applying with the costing system proposed by the analysis results of the case study at Vietnam National University of Agriculture - Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) method: This method is used to identify and measure influence of factors on the suitability of the applied costing system according to the judgment of managersin public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam The analysis steps are performed sequentially: (i) Cronbach's Alpha reliability analysis to eliminate variables with low reliability; (ii) Exploratory factor analysis to collect and reduce data; and (iii) Measuring the influence of factors (independent variable) on the suitability of the costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy (dependent variable) by estimating the influence of the determined independent variable on the dependent variable in a linear regression model with OLS technique - Scale evaluation method:The Likert scale with 5-level is used to assess suitability of costing system (dependant variable) and factors affecting the suitability of costing system (independent variable) in public universities implementing financial autonomy Accordingly, the reality of calculating training costs in public universities is detailed according to specific evaluation criteria and evaluation level is classified from to 5, corresponding to the evaluation results as "very bad” or “very inappropriate” to “very good” or “very appropriate” The results of assessment according to the levels from to are then used to calculate the average score, as a basis for overall assessment of achieved level The way to determine the average score of the 5-level scale is calculated by the formula: Distance value = (Maximum Minimum)/n = (5-1)/5 = 0.8 Accordingly, the meanings of average scores are as follows: From 1.00 to 1.80: Very bad/ Very inappropriate… From 1.81 to 2.60: Bad/ Inappropriate… From 2.61 to 3.40: Neutrality… The model to evaluate the suitability of costing system being applied in public universities implementing the financial autonomy in this case is presented in form of a multivariable regression equation as follows: HLi = f(Xi) + ε In which: HLi: Dependent variable (5 levels) is used to assess suitability of costing system being applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy Xi: Independent variable reflects the ith factor affecting suitability of costing system being applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy ε: Error of the model From 3.41 to 4.20: Good/ Appropriate… From 4.21 to 5.00: Very good/ Very appropriate… - Case study method: This method is designed for analyzing application of costing system that is suitable to the characteristics of training activities and conditions of each public university, in this case at Vietnam National University of Agriculture In-depth interview and direct observation techniquesare used to collect relevant information for analysis The subjects directly interviewed included: President of University Council, Board of Rectors, the Heads of Department such asFinance and Accounting or Chief Accountant, Training Management, and cost accountants.Information related to organization of training costing calculation, adoption of applicable costing system, level of satisfaction of the managers' needs on training cost information provided by costing accountants… Results of training cost calculation based on the proposed costing system are verified by key managers of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture to ensure the accuracy of training cost information Besides, the feasibility of applying the proposed costing system is also The scale is designed as an indicator to measure the suitability of costing system being applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy with five different levels from to 5, meaning from “very inappropriate” to “very appropriate” Factors affecting appropriateness of costing system being applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy are also measured by a fivelevel scale from to 5, that is, from “very insignificant” to “very influential” The analytical model includes 32 observed variables in factor components, which are included in the model based on inheritance of the set of criteria in the scale that some previous studies have used to assess the suitability of costing system applicable to enterprises (Dury & Tayles, 2005) or assessing appropriateness of accounting information system (To Hong Thien, 2017; Tran Thu Ba, 2017; Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, 2018) Description of observed variables is shown in Table 1.2 11 12 Table 1.2: Description of variables in the model to evaluatesuitability of costing system being applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy Variable component Dependent variable Sign P Suitability of costing system being applied Observation variable Influence expectation 2.1 Theoretical basis of traning costs in university P1 Detail of training cost information P2 Accuracy of training cost information P3 Timeliness in providing training cost information P4 Completeness in providing training cost information P5 Reasonableness in providing training cost information 2.1.1 Definition of training cost Independent variables X1 Characteristics of training activities X1.1: Diversity of training industry X1.2: Diversity of training program X1.3: Diversity of trainingform X1.4: Complication of training procedure - X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X2.1: Number of students X2.2: Number of lecturers X2.3: Number of staff X3.1: Professional qualification X3.2: Proficiency in using support tools to solve work Quality of cost X3.3: Teamwork skills accountants X3.4: Ability to organize and solve work X3.5: Presentating and reporting skills X4.1: Monthly salary and other income X4.2: Investment of working tools and equipments Condition and X4.3: Empowerment in solving work working environment for X4.4: Compliance with working time cost accountans X4.5: Clearance level of term of references X4.6: Transparency in reward and discipline Ability of managers X5.1: Level of using training cost information in training cost X5.2: Proficiency in using tools to analyze information management X5.3: Ability to integrate information in making decision X6.1: Improving the calculation of training costs Commitment of X6.2: Commitment of professional training for accountants managers in training cost cal X6.3: Commitment of investment in improving facilities X7.1: Uniformity of regulations Regulations of financial autonomy X7.2: Compliance of regulations with practice and accounting X7.3: Clarity of regulations X8.1: Competition in terms of training service provision Competition in X8.2: Competition in terms of training service quality providing undergraduate X8.3: Competition in terms of training service price training services X8.4: Competition in terms of training service diversify Scale of training activities In terms of university and service costs, training costs can be understood as all the costs of input resources related to training activities that are converted into money that a university paysactually or confirmed to be spent during training process Therefore, unit training cost is also understood as necesssary costs of labor, materials, outsourced services and depreciation allocated for a learner completing the training program that meets the output standards 2.1.2 Classification of training cost X1.5: Coordination among departments in training process X2 CHƯƠNG 2: THEORETICAL BASIS OF COSTING SYSTEM IN UNIVERSITY 2.2 Overview of financial autonomy for public universities in Vietnam - 2.2.1 Overview of public universities in Vietnam 2.2.2 Overview of financial autonomy for public universities in Vietnam + 2.3 Application of costing systems in universities 2.3.1 Needs of training cost information in university 2.3.2 Application of costing systems in university 2.3.3 Factors affecting application of costing system in university + +/- + + +/- 13 14 CHAPTER 3: SITUATION OF TRAINING COST CALCULATION IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IMPLEMENTING FINANCIAL AUTONOMY IN VIETNAM number of students and number of lecturers and staff of the public universities in Group is more than times and 1.5 times higher than those in Group 3, respectively Meanwhile, there is not much difference between the number of training industries and the number of accountants 3.1 Overview of public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam As of 2019, there are 172 public universities in whole country, excluding public universities in the fields of security and the military The number of lecturers and staff working at public universities implementing financial autonomy in general did not change much in the period 2015-2019, ranging from 52,500 to 57,000 people Currently, public universities are training with more than 1.26 million undergraduate students, 84,706 master's students and 10,758 PhD candidates In compared to the total size of the higher education system, public universities are training more than 82.6% of the total number of undergraduate students and 88.3% of master's and doctoral students Considering the whole period 2015-2019, the scale of university training tended to decrease in terms of the number of students studying at public universities Table 3.1: Average bumber of studentsper year at public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Unit: Student TT Chỉ tiêu No public university Undergraduate training Master training Doctoral training Năm học 2014-2015 159 2015-2016 2016-2017 163 170 2017-2018 2018-2019 171 172 1.596.754 1.520.807 1.523.904 1.439.495 1.261.529 75.843 78.881 87.368 92.586 84.706 9.324 9.865 11.684 14.397 10.758 Table 3.3: Brief discription of training scale and characteristics of public universities implementing financial autonomy surveyed No Criteria Training scale Average number of undergraduate students Average number of master students Average number of doctoral students Number of lecturers and staff Number of lecturers Number of staff Number of accountants Doctor Master Bachelor Others Number of training industries Undergraduate level Master level Doctoral level Traning diversify (*) Training in a field Training in many fields Unit Group Group Averrage Person 17.555,83 7.789,18 10.164,85*** Person 1.013,38 557,45 679,03** Person 100,80 84,69 89,83NS Person 713,05 461,28 516,91*** Person 241,16 188,33 196,10** Person Person 12,37 0,74 10,97 0,51 11,28** 0,56*** Person 3,10 2,36 2,52* Person 7,16 6,58 6,71NS Person 1,37 1,52 1,49** Industry 25,71 22,07 22,91** Industry 12,20 9,38 10,08*** Industry 7,13 6,56 6,74* University 4,00 13,00 17,00 University 15,00 54,00 69,00 Ghi chú:***, **, *: Statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels; NSNot statistical significance (*) Divided into two groups of public universities: training majors in the same field, such as economics, medicine ; and training disciplines in different fields, for example, economics, engineering, technology Source: Report of school years in the period 2015-2019, MOET Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 3.2 Situation of training cost calculation in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam 3.2.2 Needs of training cost information and response levels in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam 3.2.1 Characteristics of public universities surveyed There is a significant difference between the groups of public universities implementing financial autonomy in terms of need level and purpose using of training cost information Accordingly, public universities with a higher degree of financial autonomy (Group 1) have a higher need level of need training cost information and more diverse purpose of using training costinformationthan those with lower levels of financial autonomy (Group 3) Therefore, the results of Data compiled from the survey results show that there is a significal difference between groups of public universities implementing financial autonomy (depending on the degree of financial autonomy) in terms of training scale (number of students at training level), number of lecturers and staffin general and accountants in particular, training characteristics (number of training industries) Accordingly, the 15 16 managers’s assessing for level of response on training costinformation in public universities in Group are also more rigorous (shown in the lower assessment score) than those in Group universities calculate unit training costs in detail to training level but only of them calculate unit training costs details to level of group of training disciplines Table 3.4: Results of managers’s assessing for level of need, purpose using and satisfaction on training cost information in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Table 3.5: Process of training cost calculation in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam No Criteria Performing (n=86) Average score (n=172) No I Criteria Group (n=38) Group3 (n=134) Needs and purpose using of training cost information Needs of training cost information I Building standards of training costs Direct material costs 86 53 29 Direct labor costs 86 13 73 86 86 Overhead costs II Intergration of training costs Direct material costs Direct labor costs 1.1 1.2 Detail of training cost information Accuracy of training cost information 3,76 4,61 3,32 3,59 1.3 Timeliness in providing training cost information 4,42 3,41 1.4 Completeness in providing training cost information 4,03 3,12 Overhead costs 33 1.5 Reasonableness in providing training cost information 4,11 3,28 Intergration of training costs 86 3,76 2,51 Calculating direct material costs 2,64 Calculating direct labor costs 3,97 2.1 2.2 2.3 For decision-making on enrollment quota by training indusstry For decision-making on budget allocation 4,00 3,95 2.4 For decision-making on financial planning 3,71 4,13 2.5 For decision-making on performance evaluation 3,74 2,74 II Level of managers’ satisfaction for training cost information Level of detail oftraining cost information 3,29 2,41 Level of accuracy of training cost information 2,95 2,79 Level of timeliness in providing training cost information 3,24 2,56 Level of completeness in providing training cost information 2,89 2,63 Level of reasonableness in providing training cost information 2,71 2,78 Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 3.2.3 Situation of costing system application implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam in public 4 29 33 29 33 29 Allocating overhead costs 33 29 4 Totaling training costs 86 53 29 Calculating unit training costs 38 29 86 Calculation of unit training costs Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 Among the 86 public universities surveyed, there are only public universities aggregate annual costs by training discipline and level of training, and 29 public universities aggregate annual costs by training level but not detailed by training discipline Thus, out of 29 public universities that calculate unit training costs, only public universities can calculate training costs per student annually and detail to each training discipline and level of training Table 3.6: Determining objects in calculating training costsin public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam universities All of 86 surveyed public universities build training cost standard and intergrate incurredtraining costs, but the levels of detail in building of training cost standard and intergration of incurredtraining costs are not consistent and uniform among public universities There are33/86of public universities that calculate training cost by cost item, of which only 29 of these universities detail to training level and of these universities detail to level of group of training disciplines As for the calculation of unit training costs, more than one-third of the surveyed public 33 33 Group of discipline 29 29 III Purpose using of training cost information For decision-making on tuition Detail to: Whole Training university level Divide into group No Cost object Group Group (n=19) (n=67) Total No Uni (n=86) Rate (%) I Training costs per student 19 67 86 100,00 Detail to training discipline and level Detail to training level Not distinguish training discipline and level 15 0 14 29 4,65 33,72 5,81 18 17 Training costs per student cannot be calculated 48 48 55,82 II Training costs per faculty 19 67 86 100,00 Detail to training discipline and level Detail to training level Not distinguish training discipline and level Training costs per faculty cannot be calculated 0 19 0 59 0 27 59 0,00 0,00 31,40 68,60 19 67 86 100,00 III Training costs per university Detail to training discipline and level 4 4,65 Detail to training level 15 14 29 33,72 Not distinguish training discipline and level 53 53 61,63 Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 Regarding to application of costing systems, all public universities in Group and 14/67 public universities in Group have adopted a combination of modern costing system (ABC) with traditional costing systems (job order costing and process costing) to calculate training costs These public universities have been calculated unit training costs per student and detailed to each training level or training discipline and level of training Table 3.7: Costing systems applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Divide into group No Criteria Group Group (n=19) (n=67) 67 Total No Uni (n=86) Rate (%) 86 100,00 I Costing system applied 19 Job order costing 0 0,00 Process costing 53 53 61,63 Activity based costing 0 0,00 Combined costing systems 19 14 33 38,37 II Cost allocation basis 19 67 86 100,00 Use onle one base 12 12 13,95 Use combinelly more than one base 19 21 24,42 No allocation of training costs 53 53 61,63 Source: Summarize from survey data, 2020 3.3 Evaluation of factors affecting suitabilityof costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam The results of regression estimation show that there are 7/8 factors in the model that significantly affect the suitability of costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy The factors positively affect suitability of costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy,including:Condition and working environment for cost accountans (X4), Quality of cost accountants(X3), Regulations of financial autonomy and accounting (X7) In contrast, the factors of Characteristics of training activities(X1), Scale of training activities(X2), Ability of managers in training cost management(X5) and Competition in providing undergraduate training services (X8) have negatively affects the appropriateness of costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy Table3.8: The estimationof factors afecting the suitability of costing system applied in public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Independent variables Unstandardized Coefficients B Standardized Coefficients Beta Std Error t Collinearity Statistics Sig Tolerance VIF 0,000*** 0,918 1,090 -2,536 0,011** 0,954 1,049 0,067 2,036 0,043** 0,959 1,042 0,202 2,162 0,032** 0,235 4,249 *** 1,442 0,151NS -0,227 -4,787 0,025 -0,025 0,059 0,041 0,143 0,066 (Constant) 0,352 0,244 X1 -0,175 0,037 X2 -0,013 X3 X4 X5 -0,020 0,026 -0,045 -4,766 0,000 0,603 1,658 X6 0,052 0,031 0,088 1,447 0,150NS 0,749 1,335 X7 0,018 0,030 0,031 2,894 0,004*** 0,757 1,321 X8 -0,353 0,061 -0,510 -5,777 0,000*** 0,265 3,778 R2 = 0,747 F = 99,250 Sig = 0,000 Ghi chú: ***, **, *: Statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels; NS Not statistical significance Source: Calculate from survey data, 2020 3.4 Case study on application of an appropriate costing system at Vietnam National University of Agriculture 3.4.1 Overview of Vietnam National University of Agriculture Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) is a public university implementing autonomy according to Resolution No 77/NQ-CP at the autonomous level of all recurrent and investment expenses In terms of training, VNUA is a national key university with multi-disciplinary and multi-field training Regarding to scale of training activities, VNUA has an average of 25,000 undergraduate students, 2,000 graduate students and 200 PhD candidates By the end of 2019, total emloyees of VNUA was 1,324 people, of which lectuers accounted for 50.23% (665 people), staff and training support technicians accounted for 28.78% (381 people), and the remaining 20.99% are researchers and other employees working at service/research units of VNUA 19 20 technical pedagogy Table 3.9: Training scale of Vietnam National University of Agriculture in the period of 2017-2019 Training scale (No of students) No Criteria I Graduate training Doctoral level Master level II 2017 2018 2019 2.529 2.122 1.938 Comparison (%) 17/18 18/19 BQ 83,91 91,33 87,54 229 215 197 93,89 91,63 92,75 2.300 1.907 1.741 82,91 91,30 87,00 Undergraduate training 28.143 25.785 23.844 91,62 92,47 92,05 Full-time training 26.910 25.170 23.844 93,53 94,73 94,13 Connection training Second degree training 355 309 0 87,04 225,00 0,00 0,00 - Part-time training 874 297 33,98 0,00 - Source: Department of Training Management, VNUA (2019) 3.4.2 Situation of training cost calculation at Vietnam National University of Agriculture In present, calculation of training costs at VNUA has accomplished following contents, including: (1) Initial identification of correct expenses incurred; (2) Identify the cost object; (3) Allocation of overheads in multiple classes; (4) Organize an accounting structure that flexibly combines financial accounting and management accounting As a result, VNUA has calculated unit training costs in detail for each group of training disciplines (Table 3.10) However, there are serveral limitations of training cost calculation have not yet been overcome, including: (1) Training cost for each group of training disciplines has not been calculated; (2) Some overhead cost items (costs for property repair, machinery and equipment maintenance, depreciation, and indirect labor costs) have not been properly allocated to cost objects Table 3.10: Results of training cost calculation ofVietnam National University of Agriculture in financial year of 2017 Training costs/student/year (mil VND) No Group of training disciplines I Direct labor costs Direct material costs Overhead costs allocated Total Agriculture and Aquaculture Group of training disciplines for horticulture 6,03 4,41 2,66 13,10 Group of training disciplines for animal production 5,11 4,39 2,97 12,47 Group of training disciplines for aquaculture 5,46 4,46 2,89 12,81 Group of training disciplines for veterinary medicine 5,48 5,87 3,14 14,49 Group of training disciplines for agricultural 5,39 4,22 2,72 12,33 II Technology - Engineering Group of training disciplines for food technology and food processing 5,00 4,16 3,29 12,46 Group of training disciplines for bio and environmental technology 5,06 4,26 2,90 12,22 Group of training disciplines for information technology 4,73 3,92 3,32 11,97 Group of training disciplines for mechanical and electrical engineering 4,80 4,16 3,33 12,29 III Humanlity and social sciences, management Group of training disciplines for economics 5,18 1,72 2,50 9,40 Group of training disciplines for accounting 4,74 1,72 2,45 8,91 Group of training disciplines for management 4,67 2,21 2,55 9,43 Group of training disciplines for social and humanlity sciences 5,38 1,92 2,47 9,78 Source: Department of Finance and Accounting, VNUA(2017) 3.4.3 Adoption of suitable costing system for training cost calculation at Vietnam National University of Agriculture Based on analysis results of limitations in calculating training costs at VNUA and responsing managers’ needs on training cost information at VNUA, training costs need to be calculated per student and detailed for each training discipline Furthermore, based on estimationresults of factors affecting the suitability of costing system and the surveyed results at VNUA, a combined costing system (combining traditional and modern costing systems) are proposed to be applied to calculate training costs Consequencely, calculation of training costs is carried out according to the following steps: (1) Identifying appropriate costs; (2) Calculating costs for major activities of university (training activity, scientific activity, and business services); and (3) Calculating training cost for undergraduate level in detail by each cost item By the proposed costing system, the training cost per student at VNUA has been calculated and detailed to each training discipline Furthermore, the accuracy of training cost information calculated by the proposed costing system is better than that calculated by the costing system being applying at VNUA because the proposed costing system has been corrected some unreasonable points in allocation of overhead costs In terms of practice, the proposed costing system also ensures feasibility with current human condition and facilities based on assessment of financial managers and cost accountants at VNUA Table 3.11: Comparison of results of training cost calculation between costing system being applying and costing system proposed for applying atVietnam National University of Agriculture 22 21 CHAPTER 4: Annual training costs per student No Training discipline Direct labor Direct costs material costs Cur Pro Cur Pro Overhead costs Cur Pro Total Cur Pro I Agriculture and Aquaculture Horticulture 5,35 4,11 2,71 12,17 Crop science 4,94 4,45 2,71 12,10 Plant protection 6,56 4,45 2,71 13,72 Fruit and vegetable technology and landscape Soil science 6,48 3,47 2,55 12,50 Advanced crop science 7,79 5,35 3,50 16,64 6,03 6,79 4,41 4,33 2,66 2,71 13,10 13,83 RECOMMENDATION OF COSTING SYSTEM APPLICATION FOR PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IMPLEMENTING FINANCIAL AUTONOMY IN VIETNAM 4.1 Viewpoints and principles of adoption of costing system for public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam and practice solutions 4.1.1 Viewpoints of proposing 4.1.2 Principles of proposing 4.2 Proposing of costing system application for public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam and practice solutions Animal production 5,11 5,11 4,39 2,92 12,42 Aquaculture Veterinary medicine 5,46 5,48 5,46 5,48 4,46 5,87 2,83 3,10 12,75 14,45 4.2.1 Proposing of costing system application to calculate training costs 10 Pedagogy of agricultural technology 5,39 5,39 4,22 2,67 12,28 4.2.2 Completing of identifying appropriate training cost items II Technology - Engineering Food preservation and processing Postharvest technology Food technology Biotechnology Environmental science Information technology Mechanical engineering Electrical engineering 4.2.3 Completing of overhead cost allocation 6,28 5,00 5,06 4,73 4,80 4,87 4,75 5,00 5,28 4,73 5,20 4,63 4,09 4,16 4,26 3,92 4,16 3,98 4,21 4,16 4,60 3,92 4,16 4,16 3,35 3,29 2,90 3,32 3,33 2,58 3,42 2,97 2,61 3,30 3,33 3,33 12,46 12,22 11,97 12,29 13,72 4.2.4 Practice solutions for calculating training costs 11,43 12,38 4.2.4.1 Solution on organizing of training cost calculation 12,13 12,49 11,95 4.2.4.3 Solution on improving working environment and facilities 12,69 4.3 Recommendationsfor ensuring feasibility of proposed solutions 12,12 4.3.1 Recommendations for the Government III Humanlity and social sciences, management Economics Agricultural economics 5,18 4,99 5,81 1,72 1,72 1,72 2,50 2,57 2,57 9,40 9,28 10,10 Accounting 4,74 4,74 1,72 1,72 2,45 2,40 8,91 8,86 Land management Business management Advanced agri-business Agri-business Rural development Sociology Note: 4,46 4,67 5,38 4,19 8,32 6,00 6,08 4,70 4.2.4.2 Solution on improving qualification of financial managers and cost accountants 2,73 2,21 1,92 1,72 2,13 1,72 1,76 2,09 2,57 2,55 2,47 2,40 3,08 2,40 2,57 2,45 9,43 9,78 4.3.2 Recommendations for Ministry of Finance 4.3.3 Recommendations for public universities implementing financial autonomy 9,76 4.4 Limitations of the thesis and extensive research orientations 8,31 4.4.1 Limitations of the thesis 13,53 10,12 10,41 9,24 Cur.: Costing system being applying at VNUA Pro.: Costing system proposed applying for VNUA Source: Canculated by the author and results of training cost calculation of VNUA 4.4.2 Extensive research orientations 23 24 CONCLUSION organizing of training cost calculation,improving qualification of financial managers and cost accountants, and improving working environment and facilities.To ensure the solutions can be successfully implemented, the thesis has also given recommendations for the Government, Ministry of Finance and public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Finally, limitations of the thesis and extentive research orientations have also been mentioned For surviving and developingin the context of implementing financial autonomy and under increasingly fierce competition pressure due to strong trend of international integration in the field of higher education, public universities in Vietnam need to make correctand effective decisions in managing and operating the provision of higher education services The basis for managers to make good decisions is training cost information provided by accounting department Therefore, adoption of an appropriate costing system to meet managers’ needs on training cost information will help the managers in public universities implementing financial autonomy has new tools of cost management, contributing to improving operational efficiency of public universities In term of adopting appropriate costing system for public universities implementing financial autonomy, the thesishas achieved research findings as follows: Theoretically, the thesis has systematized and clarified the concept and classification of training costs in universities; Overview of implementation of financial autonomy for public universities in Vietnam; Discussing on advantages and disadvantages of each costing system as well as conditions to apply for each costing system; Clarifying basis for adopting of costing system suitable to characteristics of training activities and conditions of public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Regarding to training cost calculation, the thesis has analyzed the situation of calculating training costs in public universities implementing financial autonomy and case study of VNUA according to following contents: Overview of public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam; Identifying management needs on training cost information and satisfaction levels; Situation of training cost calculation in public universities implementing financial autonomy; Measuring influence of factors on suitability of costing system applied in public universities; Description of training characteristics of VNUA; Assessing situation of training costcalculation at VNUA; Analysis for adopting of appropriate costing system for VNUA based on shortcomings and limitations of costing system being applying at VNUA In terms of solutions, the thesis has clearly presented viewpoints and principles of adoption of costing system for public universities implementing financial autonomy based on the results of overview on theoretical basis and findings from analysis of the situation of training costcalculation in public universities implementing financial autonomy and case study of VNUA Accordingly, the costing system suitable to characteristics of training activities for each group of public universities implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam is proposed In addition, practice solutions of training cost calculation for these universities are proposed, include ... implementing financial autonomy in Vietnam Unit: Student TT Chỉ tiêu No public university Undergraduate training Master training Doctoral training Năm học 2014-2015 159 2015-2016 2016-2017 163 170 2017-2018... universities implementing financial autonomy Surveyed subject I Public universities Board of Rectors Chief accountant II Vietnam National University of Agriculture Board of Rectors Managers in Departments... levels from to are then used to calculate the average score, as a basis for overall assessment of achieved level The way to determine the average score of the 5-level scale is calculated by the formula: