Management of Financial Information in Charitable Organizations: The Case of Joint-Cost Allocations
研究慈善组织是否通过联合成本分配来管理项目支出比率，基于1992-2000年708个组织-年观测数据，发现慈善组织利用联合成本缓解项目比率变化。
Charities that use direct mailings or other activities that combine a public education effort with fundraising appeals must allocate the joint costs related to these activities to programs, fundraising, and administration. This study investigates whether charities use joint-cost allocations to manage the program ratio—a widely used measure of spending efficiency. Using a hand-collected dataset of 708 organization-year observations from 1992 to 2000, we find evidence that charities use joint costs to mitigate changes in the program ratio.