ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The study assessed the influence of financial management practices on effective administration of public secondary schools in Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive research design was adopted for this study.  The population of this study comprised 297 principals in the 297 public secondary schools Enugu State. Census sampling technique was employed as the entire population was used for the study because it was manageable. Two instruments structured by the researchers was utilized for collecting data in this study. The instruments were tagged “Financial Management Practices (FMPQ)” and Administration Questionnaire (AQ)”. The face validity of the instruments was established by three experts. The reliability of the instruments was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha statistics and the average reliability yielded a value of 0.72. Four trained research assistants helped the researcher in the administration and retrieval of the instrument. Out of 297 instruments distributed, 286 was successfully retrieved and provided the data for the study. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation and simple regression. It was revealed from the result of this study that mobilization of fund practice and accounting practice significantly influence effective administration of public secondary schools in Enugu State. In line with the findings of this study, recommendations were made that; principals should source for funds internally and externally to meet the numerous financial needs of the school and that proper financial account should be maintained for transparency and accountability purposes.