Fiscal Management
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animals increases, management needs to have good cost containment and
accounting practices to attract scientists to their institutions.
Some institutions feel that per diem surveys of other facilities’ recharge sched-
ules are equivalent to cost analysis and rate setting. Typically they use these
surveys to prove that their costs are reasonable. If used for comparison, and
only comparison, the surveys could be meaningful. If used to set per diem
charges at your institution, the information is meaningless. Only cost analysis
will truly prove what is a reasonable rate for a particular institution