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Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the competency needs of secondary school principals of Enugu State in financial resource management. The study specifically focused on the statutory roles of the principals in financial resource management, the specific skills possessed by the principals for effective financial resource management as well as on the budget planning and implementation needs, the needs of principals on the sourcing and disbursement of funds and on fund management. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypotheses. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Sample for the study comprised all the 231 secondary school principals within the six education zones of Enugu State. Data for the study was collected using 26-item instrument in six clusters with response format of Highly Needed (HN), Needed (N), Less Needed (LN) and Not Needed (NN). The research questions were answered descriptively on individual item basis using means and standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested inferentially using the t-test statistic. Results of data analysis revealed that many secondary school principals exhibits knowledge of their roles in financial resource management. Some secondary school principals also possessed skills for effective financial resource management. The results also revealed that secondary school principals in Enugu State have competency in budget planning and implementation, sourcing of funds, disbursement of funds and fund management. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended intensive workshops, seminars and conferences and courses for principals on competences needed in financial resource management.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Education is indispensable in national development. The Federal Republic of Nigeria in her National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) highlighted this. The Policy states that education is an instrument for national development and that it fosters the worth and development of the individual, for each individual’s sake and for the general development of the society. The Federal Government made provisions for education at the pre-pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary level. Secondary education is the education children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage. Secondary education is specifically concerned with preparing Nigerian citizens for useful living within the society and for higher education. The national policy on education (FME, 2004:18) saddled secondary education with the responsibilities of providing all primary school leavers with the
opportunity for education at higher level, providing
trained manpower in the applied sciences, technology
and commerce at sub-professional grades and raising
a generation of people who can think for themselves,
respect the views and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour, appreciate those values especially under our broad national goals and live as good citizens.
To achieve these objectives, it is imperative that the school must be effectively managed. Effective management of schools implies a situation where the stated objectives of the educational institution are achieved. It is a situation in which financial, capital equipment and personnel resources are utilized effectively for the achievement of the goals of the school. So, effective management of schools depends to a large extent on efficient utilization of school resources, especially financial resources.
Financial resource is one of the task areas of educational management and secondary schools need money for the execution of their activities/programmes. According to Ogbonnaya (2005), no organization can survive or carry out its functions effectively without adequate financial resources at its disposal. He further stated that money is needed to pay staff, maintain plants and keep the needed institutional services going. That is Eastmond and Rosentengel (1995) emphasized that the most important part of an educational development is not their projection and output targets or their list of educational priorities, but that part which deals with fiscal resources. This is because it is the financial foundation that determines the adequacy and modality of school buildings, furniture, and quality supervision. The question at this juncture is what is financial management? Financial management has to do with planning, procurement and utilization of funds needed for the conduct of public or government set up. According to Pandey (1979), financial management is concerned with the planning and controlling of organization’s financial resources. Obinna (1985) sees financial management as the administration of funds under the guidance of a body of knowledge and a disciplined way of proceedings.
Financial management is concerned with the acquisition, financing and management of assets with some overall goals in mind. Financial management decisions therefore include investment decisions. Financial decisions are taken by deciding how best to acquire the needed funds. According to Ogbonnaya (2000), financial management is concerned with decision on how to plan for funds, procures funds, expend and give accounts of funds provided for implementation of programmes of an organization. Financial management is closely related to accountability, in fact, it emphasizes accountability in an organization. Financial management suggests that administration and other agencies are accountable to the extent that they are required to answer for their actions. Campbell in Nnaji (1998) sees financial management as an operational area of administration. From all these definitions, we can deduce that financial management involves the process of planning, controlling, funding, reporting, reviewing efforts in order to achieve anticipated common goals of an organization with a view to maximizing the revenue available and achieving the financial objectives. Financial management has functions, which include the review and control of decisions to commit or recommit funds to use. Thus in addition to raising funds, financial management is directly concerned with decision making on the proper use of available funds.
Good financial management ensures the provision and utilization of school funds and school equipment. Onyedinma (2001) agreed that financial management “must be based on sound financial planning, it must provide enough income to sustain the plan, it must control also expenditure and must solve specific problem”. According to Nnaji (1998), management of finance involves budgeting, sourcing funds, handling receipts, purchasing, disbursing and accounting. They noted that it is difficult for secondary school principals to keep school activity solvent, the programme well balanced and the people who run it honest over an extended period of time without a well planned budget. They maintained that in the absence of a budget for activities, students and teachers become careless in incurring liabilities; the secondary school principal is encouraged to source funds and manages funds for the school. More seriously, many activities may be short changed and their educational programme impaired if sound financial planning is lacking.
Financial management is important to avoid wastage and for making wise use of the funds available to the institution for the achievement of objectives. Commenting on the importance of management, Nnaji (1998:44) wrote “financial functions have always been important in any business management irrespective of size”. According to him, the financial organization of any enterprise ought to be able to see that its financial functions of planning and controlling are carried out at the highest degree of efficiency. Efficient and effective management of funds requires good planning and controlling to ensure proper usage. Financial management is therefore, important for efficient and effective use of funds in an organization. Financial management ensures that funds are economically used.
The importance of financial management as outlined above implies that secondary school principals should possess requisite skills in financial management. The question at this juncture is: what are “Skills in Financial Management”? Skills in financial Management refer to the knowledge and competencies which schools administrators should possess in financial management. They include budget making and implementation skills, skills in sourcing and disbursement of funds, as well as skills in actual fund management. Actually, some skills have been discussed by experts as necessary for financial management. Adesina (1990) for instance stated that principals of secondary schools need competence in not only the preparation and administration of the budget but also in executing budgets according to estimates. Campbell (1999) and Gregg (1985) harped on skills in initiating and sponsoring fund raising in schools. Okunamiri (2002) insisted that secondary school principals should possess relevant skills in the disbursement of funds. He attributed the failure of financial management staff of school board to inability to disburse funds to implementation of programmes. Ogbonnaya (2002) stated that apart from skills in budget preparation and execution, heads of schools also need skill in monitoring financial records in schools ensuring judicious use of imprest and keeping expenditure in cheque. He insisted that the fund management skills are those concerned with utilizing resources from the environment carrying our regular auditory of schools to ensure judicious expenditure and skills in guiding school bursars on how best to keep and manage funds.
Some studies conducted by Okunamiri (2002) and Ogbonnaya (2005) to investigate if poor application of basic skill in financial management was as a result of years of experience of principals revealed that less experience principals performed poorly in financial management because of lack of relevant skills.
One would expect that a principals’ competency need of financial management would be influenced by a number of factors. Such factors include gender of the principal involved, the location of the school where the principal is, as well as the length of the principal’s professional experience. Principals of 0-9 years experience may need more financial management skills than those of 10 years and above. The factors of gender, location and experience have been extensively studied in the developed countries, for instance, Lowin (1999) found out that more experienced principals were conversant with skills in financial management than less experienced ones.
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