Greeting Terri,

Our fiscal year runs from 1 July through 30 June.  Most of our subscriptions are on a calendar-year basis, as are yours.  Fortunately, our Accounting folks do not require that the cost of calendar-year subscriptions be split between the two fiscal years in which they fall (though at least in our case it would be half in each fiscal year, rather than 5/12 in one and 7/12 in the other).  The entire cost of a subscription is assigned to the fiscal year in which it is paid.  The procedure you describe sounds as if it would be more trouble than it is worth.

Best regards,
~Bill Warren
___________________________
William Warren
Acquisitions Department
Middlebury College Library
110 Storrs Avenue
Middlebury, VT 05753 USA

fax:  (802) 443-5698
phone:  (802) 443-5489
e-mail:  wwarren@middlebury.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Teri Koch
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:57 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] subscriptions: fiscal year vs. calendar year accounting issues

Hello,

I am writing to find out how other institutions assign costs for
journal and/or database subscriptions for accounting purposes.  Most
of our journal subscriptions are on a calendar year basis, but our
fiscal year runs June 1-May 31.  Just recently our Accounting
Department has decided to begin splitting the charges between fiscal
years.  That is, the cost for a calendar year subscription would be
assigned 5/12ths (Jan-May) to one fiscal year; and the other 7/12ths
(June-Dec) to the next fiscal year. This is going to require that we
keep two sets of books for each title/database, one for the current
fiscal year, and one the upcoming fiscal year.  This seems like a
nightmarish amount of paperwork/trouble.

How do other institutions handle subscriptions for accounting
purposes?  I suppose one alternative is to attempt to get all
subscriptions to coincide with our fiscal year.  Do others do that?

Any insights into how your institutions handle this and/or advice
would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Regards--

Teri Koch
Collection Development Librarian
Drake University
Cowles Library
2725 University Ave.
Des Moines, IA  50311

teri.koch@drake.edu  (e-mail)