Revenues:

1. Why are revenues decreasing, stable or increasing?

• Has demand for the product(s)/service(s) fallen?
• Has there been a change in strategic plan affecting revenues?
• Are revenues susceptible to political risk in other countries?
• Has there been any management succession recently?
• Has operational capacity been increased?
• Have new product(s) and/or service(s) been added to the mix?
• Are revenues dependent from mostly one customer or is the revenue mix well diversified?
• Can the product(s)/service(s) being offered be easily replaced with competing substitutes from other outside vendors and/or auxiliaries?
• What additional revenue opportunities have potential for being implemented at this time?
• Are accounts receivables and payment collection being processed in a timely basis?
• Who are the competitiors in the product/service mix if any, and does the auxiliary operation hold a distinctive advantage?
• What are the long-term prospects for revenue growth? If decreasing or stable, what turn around strategy is proposed?
• What obstacles if any are barriers to revenue growth?
• If revenues decreased by 10%, 20%, etc. what steps would be taken to mitigate the loss of revenues?
• Is local competition increasing or decreasing?
• What are the long-term industry trends for the operation?
• Can technology be used to improve revenues and/or can someone else use technology to take revenues away from the existing operation?
• How sensitive are revenues to fluctuations in FTE student enrollment?
• How sensitive are revenues to fluctuations in student headcount?

Operating Expenditures

2. Why are operating expenditures decreasing, stable or increasing?

• If increasing or decreasing, what is the principle reason by category (Sal, OPS, Expense, OCO).
• Are operational costs fixed with economies of scale developing as sales volume increases? Explain.
• If operational costs increase as revenues grow, do profit margins as a percentage remain consistent or vary and why?
• How flexible are operating costs in the event of a revenue downturn?
• Have process and efficiency plans been developed and/or explored to find ways of reducing costs? In other words, is there a better way of doing things than the way we currently operate.
• Have performance standards or "Best Practices" measures been identified for benchmarking or comparative purposes?
• Does the expenditure mix of salaries, OPS, expense and OCO adequately support the mission or goal?
• Is the cost of supplies and/or service contracts increasing and if so, are there alternative suppliers available?

Transfers (excluding overhead):

• Is the ending cash balance adversely affected by the transfer-out?
• If the transfer-out is of a recurring nature, describe why?

General Operations:

• What is the operational Break/Even figure for the operation?
• Is there a 3-5 year business plan available for review, goal and objective setting?
• Where do you see the auxiliary operation in 5 years?
• Do employees clearly understand their job responsibilities in a written format and the direction the activity is headed?
• Are processes properly documented? In other words, does an internal training manual exist for current and new personnel?
• Cash reserves are sufficient to adequately cover operations for how long (weeks, months, years)?
• If the activity leader leaves or is on vacation, is there a clearly identified management succession order with decision making capacity?
• Are customers surveyed for feedback?
• What does the operation do best and what area could use the most improvement?
• Do benchmarking standards exist for your operation? If so , how does the operation compare to similar operations at other institutions? If they are performing better, what are the key reasons for this?
• What kind of training have staff members received or attended in addition to core function training?
• In the event of a fiscal crisis where cutbacks are necessary, what would be the first thing you as the lead manager would adjust?
• How often do you monitor the financial status of the activity?
• Can bargaining power over suppliers be improved?
• Competition in my product/service sector is (decreasing, status quo, increasing) and the operation is adjusting operations by?
• Are substitutes easily and readily available for the products/services being provided?