This collection contains Michigan Community College Activities Classification Structure (ACS) Reports; which are financial reports with a set of categories and related definitions which allows users to examine the operation of an institution as it relates to the accomplishment of that institution’s objectives. It is a logical framework for arraying information by activity classifications, in which “Activity” is defined as an aggregation of activities serving a common set of objectives. Activities are assigned to classifications on the basis of the institutional objective served by the activities.
As of 2010 the major Activities carried out by the community colleges in Michigan are: 1.0 Instruction Activity, 3.0 Public Service Activity, 4.0 Instructional Support Activity, 5.0 Student Services Activity, 6.0 Institutional Administration Activity, 7.0 Physical Plant Operations Activity. The primary purpose of classifying expenditures according to activity and sub-activity is to provide consistent reporting of expenditures for all Michigan Community Colleges that are used by various state departments and agencies such as: Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth; House Fiscal; Senate Fiscal; and Department of Management and Budget.
The community college Activities Classification Structure evolved in response to Section 8 of Public Act 419 of 1978, which announced the beginning of the development of a common and uniform financial reporting structure. At this time, state legislators and the Governor realized that there was a need for a flexible funding framework based on actual costs and credit hour production.
The First and Second Reports were created in 1979 which proposed a reporting structure that identified seven major activity classifications that described the activities carried out by the community colleges in pursuit of their objectives. At that time all colleges in the pilot program were requested to classify all instructional courses/activities into the classifications of the Instruction Activity.
The Third ACS Report was issued in 1980 with colleges asked to classify non-instructional activities into the ACS classifications. In 1981 the comprehensive accounting manual (MUFR) was developed and the Final ACS Report for the entire state was adopted. During the next 20 years, the ACS Report and MUFR were utilized consistently and this provided a database that was utilized by both the colleges and the State of Michigan Departments. In 2003 the ACS Manual and Reporting was revised, which streamlined the instruction reporting, added a new category for Technology, incorporated the General and Designated Funds into the ACS Report as an “Operating Fund”, and increased flexibility for the colleges in reporting and allocating costs on a consistent basis. Additional ACS data and information can be found at www.michigancc.net.