Responsibility Center Management (RCM) is a decentralized financial management system which motivates the considerable energy and innovation of faculty and staff to develop revenues and manage costs so as to maximize the achievement of the objectives of university strategic plans. Complete transparency of all financial data discourages secrets and encourages trust and participation.

This system, which has its roots in Harvard's Every Tub on its Own Bottom (ETOB) system, was introduced at Penn in the early 1970s by President Martin Meyerson to bring marketplace incentives to higher education. It has proven highly successful at private universities such as Penn, USC, CGU, and Dominican and public universities such as Indiana, Minnesota, Toledo, and Texas Tech.

The introductory NACUBO monograph on RCM by Jon Strauss and John Curry pictured here is available through NACUBO or on the web at <www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED469330.pdf>.