Uniform Chart of Accounts and Its Use in Management Control

摘要

Full implementation of the Uniform Chart of Accounts (UCA) for Department of Defense (DOD) medical operations was accomplished by DOD on 1 October 1979. Both before and after UCA implementation, managers of health care delivery activities expressed concern about two of UCA's fundamental objectives: first, over the appropriateness of using UCA generated data in making comparisons of internal, interservice, intraservice, and civilian sector cost performance; and second, on the use of UCA data as a mechanism for measuring efficiency of operations. This thesis is an attempt to determine whether the prescribed cost accounting process results in information that can be use for these purposes, by either managers at the activity level, or by planners and decision makers at the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in the fulfillment of its DOD medical operations oversight function. The major approach is a critical analysis of the data generated by UCA. The limitations of the current process are discussed and the conclusions reached on the basis of the research and analysis are provided. (Author)