Cost accounting in education is a feature that determines the actual cost associated with each of the several programs operated by a Local Educational Agency ("LEA"). Examples of such programs include Regular Education, Special Education, and Migrant Education. The California Department of Education ("CDE") has identified over twenty separate programs.   

Cost accounting provides the total cost of the program. The total costs include instructional, support and central administration. Not all of these costs are directly charged to the program, which is the reason for the program cost report allocation (PCRA) function in finance. Briefly, costs that are not directly charged to the programs are totaled at year-end and allocated to each program using a set of factors.  

This cost accounting feature has a significant impact on the special education program. The amounts are used to determine an LEA’s compliance toward the Federal maintenance of financial effort requirement. Therefore, a strong understanding of the cost accounting functions and activities is critical for both the LEAs finance and special education areas.

The following Youtube videos, slides, and CSAM procedure may provide an understanding of program cost accounting and the components of PCRA:

Part 1 of 3
Part 2 of 3
Part 3 of 3

PCRA Slides
CSAM Procedure 910 - Program Cost Accounting (with notes)