PRINCIPALS’ BUDGETING PRACTICES FOR ENHANCING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

The study ascertained principals budgeting practices for enhancing financial management in secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all the 257 principals in the state government owned secondary schools in Anambra State. They were all used for the study. Data collection was done using a 14-item researcher developed instrument titled ‘‘Principals’ Budgeting Practices Questionnaire (PBPQ)’’. It was validated by three experts and Cronbach alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and this yielded a high reliability coefficient of 0.93. Data analysis was done using arithmetic mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and t-test to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed among others that principals’ budget planning practices for enhancing financial management in secondary schools in Anambra State include giving priority to the most pressing needs of the school in budgeting planning, setting target to be achieved by the school budget, adhering to official fiscal calendar in budget planning and forecasting expected income in the school budget among others. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Post Primary School Service Commission should develop official guideline for principals to utilize during budget defence.