Education is both a service enterprise and a product enterprise. Each view has direct bearing on the program structure that ties budget, accounting, and reporting data into classification matrices capable of computerized analysis. Service is defined as an activity or as a tangible object delivered to a specified client. An educational product is a measure of impact of educational service on a client. Productivity is defined as the quantitative measure of either a service delivered or an outcome (product) achieved for a client within a specified period. Four major areas where the distinction of viewing education from the two perspectives of service and of product has direct implication for fiscal analysis are budgeting, accounting, fiscal reporting, and in economic analysis of education. Whether education is viewed as a service enterprise or as a product enterprise also has considerable impact on the conclusions drawn concerning productivity. More importantly, public policy decisions in the area of educational finance could be more sharply focused if the service-product distinction were used in the deliberations. (Author/MLF)