Budgeting Procedures And Principals’ Financial Management Of Public Secondary Schools In Rivers State
Samuel Nariochukwu Owhondah Ph.D
Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State
Keywords: Budgeting, budgeting procedures, fund, management practices, budget preparation, budget implementation, budget evaluation
Abstract
The study investigated budgeting procedures and principals fund management practices in public secondary schools in Rivers State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 536 principals and accounts officers of the secondary schools in 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State. A sample of 326 principals and account officers were used for the study. Two instruments-“Budgeting Procedures Questionnaire” (BPQ) and “Principals Fund Management Questionnaire” (PFMQ) were used for the study; with responses placed on the 4-point rating scale. The instruments were validated by experts in the field and reliability was determined using the Pearson product-moment correlation statistical method through which the coefficients (0.81) and (0.76) were obtained. Data retrieved were presented using the Regression analysis of the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). The F-statistic was used to test the two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that budgeting procedures had a strong positive influence on principals’ fund management practices in secondary schools in Rivers State. It was therefore recommended among others that principals of schools and their accounts officers should continue to uphold the budgeting procedures in the raising and spending of money in the Rivers State public secondary schools.