PRINCIPALS’ FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AS PREDICTORS OF EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study examined principals’ financial management practices as predictors of effective administration of public secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 267 principals in 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. Census sampling procedure was adopted for the study. The instruments for data collection were two sets of questionnaires structured by the researchers titled; Principals’ Financial Management Practices Questionnaire (PFMPQ)” and Effective Administration Questionnaire (EAQ)’’. The face validity of the instruments was established by three experts. The construct validity of the instruments was established using Principal Component Analysis approach. Cronbach Alpha procedure was used to determine the internal consistency of the instruments. Simple regression was used to answer the research questions and test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of this study showed that budgeting, revenue generation and financial record keeping were significant factors for predicting principals’ effective administration of public secondary schools in Anambra State. It was recommended among others that principals should ensure that school fund are managed properly but within the stipulated budget, they should look for ways of generating revenue for the school to argument the fund from the government.