BUDGETING AND ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ADOPTED BY PRINCIPALS FOR IMPROVING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated budgeting and accounting practices adopted by principals to improve financial management in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 436 respondents (218 principals and 218 bursars) from the 218 public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. A multistage sampling procedure was used to draw 328 respondents (164 principals and 164 bursars) for the study. A structured questionnaire developed by the researchers, titled "Budgeting and Accounting Practices Adopted by Principals for Improving Financial Management Questionnaire (BAPPFMQ)," was used to collect data. The instrument was validated by three experts: two from Educational Management and one from Measurement and Evaluation, all from the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the instrument's internal consistency, yielding reliability coefficients of 0.83 and 0.80 for Clusters A and B, with an overall coefficient of 0.82. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, and the t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The study's findings revealed, among others, that principals adopt budgeting and auditing practices to improve financial management in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. It was also found that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of principals and bursars regarding the budgeting and accounting practices adopted by principals to improve financial management in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that principals enroll in professional accounting courses to keep abreast of the skills and knowledge of accounting practices for financial management in secondary schools.