Cost accounting in Hungarian public higher education institutions

This paper aims to present the area of cost accounting in the general government sector, more precisely, in higher education, its relationship with managerial accounting. A special emphasis is the question of the application (applicability) and necessity of cost accounting in this sector. The performance, competitiveness, and last but not least, the rate of overall social satisfaction are highly dependent on the capacity, and the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the operation of financial actors and different public institutions. The efficiency and effectiveness of public services can only be measured and determined in the knowledge of net costs. Our aim is to explore the issue of cost accounting in higher education and to identify the related problems.