Managing subscription income

Better financial data promote better management of subscription income, and acctual basis accounting provides better data. Many small publishers depend on cash basis accounting and get systematic exaggerations of revenue and underestimates of expenses whenever costs, prices, or numbers of subscriptions rise. Subscription money paid in advance should not be fallow, but invested temporarily to generate additional revenue. Alternatively, this money may serve in emergencies to pay uncovered expenses. Subscription income goes further when cost-cutting ideas are sought regularly from the printer. It is speculated that the next round of increases in subscription prices may drastically cut the number of institutional subscribers to less popular journals. Some may not survive the change intact. Skillful handling of the business affairs of a small journal demands successful solutions to many problems. Several problems in managing subscription income are discussed in this paper: accounting methods, temporary investment, economical production, and planning price increases.