Internet Exercise #1
Use an online yellow pages directory (use internet search engine to locate) to identify a sizable nonprofit or governmental organization in your area with a website. Find out as much as you can about the organization's operations from its website. (Note that the records of such organizations are often organized by "fund." Think of a fund as a segment of an organization. You will not be expected to understand or describe why they account for the organization in this manner.) Then contact the organization and, explaining you're a student completing an assignment, ask for an appointment with the controller or chief financial officer of the organization (or other appropriate financial person) to ask them the following questions:

• What are the main operations of the organization and how is it organized?


• How are the organization's overall budget goals set?


• What is the process used to build the budget?


• Who participates in the process and how much input does each participant have?


• How long does it take to build the budget?


• What are the main benefits of the budgeting process? How are the budgets used?

Write a brief paper (2 – 3 pages) that summarizes the answers to each of the questions listed above. Your paper should include contact information (person's name, title, organization name, phone number, email address, etc.) for the controller or chief financial officer with whom you met.

Internet Exercise #2
MedLink International has developed various types of software packages for use by medical practices. The website of the company at http://www.medlinkus.com/ includes material about the company's history, mission, and its products. After reviewing this information, answer the following questions:

1. Why do hospitals need a software packages? What are the characteristics of a hospital's cost structure and cost problems which would require a software program?


2. How will the software program solve a hospital's cost accounting problems?


3. What did you learn from the review of the material that you didn't know before (e.g., about a hospital's cost issues)?


4. Why type of hospitals is the software program being marketed to?

Internet Exercise #3
The State of Rhode Island publishes its budget and the supporting information at http://www.budget.ri.gov/. Access the budget and answer the following:

1. What are the duties of the budget office? (Hint: Use the Budget Primer link.)


2. What are the six governmental functions listed in the budget? For the most recent year, calculate the percentage of the total budget allocated to each function. If possible, compare the most recent percentage breakdown with that of the prior year.


3. What are the major sources of Rhode Island's revenues? Calculate the percentage which each category represents of the total revenues.


4. What is the accounting basis used in the preparation of the budget? (Hint: Use the Budget Primer link and scroll down until you see the Budget Basis section.)


5. The budget mentions four categories of program performance measures. List them, and briefly describe how they are used in Rhode Island. (Hint: Use the Budget Primer link and scroll down until you see the Program Performance Measures section.)
6. What did you learn from reviewing the most recent budget of the State of Rhode Island?

Internet Exercise #4
Perform an Internet search using one of the following terms:

• Budgeting


• Zero-based budget (or zero-based budgeting)


• Continuous budgeting

Select an article (less than one year old) from the results of your search. (Make sure that you do not select an instructor's lecture notes or a class assignment from the results of your search.) After reading the article, write a brief paper (3 – 5 paragraphs) that summarizes and comments on the article. (Your paper should provide the appropriate citation(s). If necessary, you may wish to refer to the following website, which includes information about citations: http://www.cod.edu/library/research/citenet.htm.)