Head teacher competence and financial management in selected secondary schools in Mukono municipality

Abstract

This study investigated the Effect of Headteacher Competence on Financial Management in Selected Secondary Schools in Mukono Municipality-Uganda. The study was guided by the following specific objectives to: assess the extent to which budgeting affects financial management, determine how supervision, monitoring and control of expenditures affects financial management and to ascertain the extent to which internal audit system affects financial management in secondary schools of Mukono District. The researcher employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey design covering both qualitative and quantitative research approaches to elicit data. The data collection tools used included interviews and questionnaires. Both simple random sampling technique and purposive technique were used to select respondents that included headteachers and teachers (n = 92). The data was presented in using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. Analysis and interpretations were done using descriptive statistics. The study established that: school headteachers controlled expenditures through coordinated efforts in execution of co-curricular activity, ignoring items not budgeted directed towards achieving good value for money; monitoring and supervision of the budget was only done by the headteachers and to a less extent by school finance management committee and Boards of Governors. Budget information needs to be reported regularly to internal budget holders; the study further revealed that headteachers were accountable for all income and expenditure at school. The systems of controlling and recording funds in the school should be clear as it informs the auditing of finances. The study recommends that, there is need to improve the quality and competence of headteachers, seminars workshops and conferences have to be organized by Ministry of Education and Sports. There is need for headteachers to ensure accurate financial record keeping for proper functioning of the school. This allows a record of financial transactions to easily be traced and for proper control of the funds flow in the school. Further research should be conducted to examine the effect of Internal auditing on fraud detection in Uganda.