The question of whose numbers are most accurate is far from academic. For one thing, placement figures influence the rankings of business schools that are published by numerous publications. (BUSINESS WEEK does not use placement data to calculate its rankings, however.) Schools with the most attractive stats have the best shot not only at luring the best and brightest students but also at raising extra millions in contributions from alums. And for students, picking a school with the best placement record can mean a difference of thousands a year in compensation when they graduate. There's little doubt, critics say, that the high stakes involved have led to creative arithmetic at many schools -- and engendered no small amount of cynicism. "I don't like bad data going to students and employers," says Chuck Hickman, director of projects and services at the International Association for Management Education, an accreditation group. "If we teach ethics, we ought to follow them."

Now comes a group called the MBA Career Services Council (CSC), whose goal is to keep everyone honest. The CSC, funded mostly by 82 or so U.S. business schools, is currently evaluating and refining a set of standards its constituent schools can use to report salaries, total compensation, and job offers for new graduates.

The standards, for example, encourage schools to collect data from at least 80% of their graduating classes. The rules define job offers precisely, stipulating that they "do not include verbal speculation or suggestions involving possible or potential offers for unidentified positions." The guidelines also require that "salary related to employment offers which are not accepted is irrelevant and should not be reported." The CSC even supplies spreadsheets showing exactly how data should be kept. "Our rationale for developing a placement statistics standard was to try and level the playing field," says Samantha Renfro, director of MBA career services for Emory's Goizueta Business School and vice-president of the CSC.

Why should schools adopt a standard that hinders their ability to show their programs in the best light? Because the competition between schools has led to a degree of fudging that threatens the credibility of all. Peter League, who co-chaired a task force that created the CSC standards, says "we were astounded that some schools were reporting their employment stats based on just 15% to 20% of their student body....That's not very professional." And it's no way to keep peace among schools. "There has been animosity [between B-school placement offices] because the definitions that some [schools] use leave a lot of room for interpretation," says Hickman.

The CSC began its effort in 1994, soon after the group's formation, which was intended to promote the goals of MBA placement pros. By 1996, it had devised a set of guidelines that requires schools to include in their placement calculations, for example, all of the people who are seeking jobs. The rules also define what's included in salary and compensation, and set a deadline -- Sept. 30 of each year -- by which a graduate must land a job to be considered employed for reporting purposes. The CSC also decided that only full-time MBA students could be included in a school's statistics. Although participation in its program is voluntary, the CSC also asks each school to sign a "statement of compliance" swearing that it has told the truth.

The CSC standards have gotten a boost from U.S. News & World Report and BUSINESS WEEK, both of which now use them in gathering data for their rankings of B-schools. "That raises our profile considerably," says Jackie Wilbur, president of the CSC and director of career services at Georgetown's School of Business. And preliminary feedback from B-school placement officers has been largely positive.

As it refines its rules, the CSC still has to resolve such questions as how schools should include international students in their stats. Previously, many schools excluded these students from job and salary numbers, partly because those people are harder to place. So a CSC suggestion to include international grads depresses the numbers at B-schools with a large foreign contingent -- which upsets those schools. The group will evaluate its methodology during its annual meeting, scheduled for June 17-20 in Orlando.