ABSTRACT Despite the efforts of the Kenyan Ministry of Education to enhance principals performance and the existence of guidelines

in the form of a chapter on financial management in the Manual for Principals of Secondary and High Schools, financial management capacity is a concern in Lesotho secondary and high schools. This article reports on findings emanating from in-depth personal interviews with school principals on financial management practices in their schools. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the narratives. Identified themes were juxtaposed with the Kenyan Ministry of Educations policy guidelines on financial management. The study highlighted the deficiency of, as well as problems regarding the implementation of the policy: (1) there is a noteworthy discrepancy between the policy and school financial theory. (2) Despite the policy documents extensive directives on financial planning and organisation, problems regarding budgeting, the collection and recording of school fees, as well as a lack of administrative support abound. (3) The absence of a clear policy directive on financial leadership and control is reflected by unsatisfactory financial leadership and arbitrary auditing practices. Findings of this study repudiate the argument that the existence of a financial policy will inevitably lead to sound financial management in Kenyan schools, and consequently quality education.

CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION The chapter starts by detailing the background of the study with an aim to eventually building a case for the study before highlighting the statement of the problem. Further, research questions, objectives and the hypothesis of the study are stated. It also gives a brief description of the study area, justification and the scope of the study.

1.1 Background of the Study In Kaloleni, as in all other districts of Kenya, principals have to administer and manage their schools. Among other things, principals have to carry out the financial management of their schools. According to Section 21 of the Education Act of 2010 (MOE 2010), the principal is the chief accounting officer of the school and is responsible to the management committee or school board for the control and use of school funds; Shall maintain or cause records of income and expenditure of the school to be maintained; Shall prepare an annual budget for a school and submit it to the school board for its approval; and Shall within three months of the end of each school year, submit a financial statement of the school to the school board for its approval. A schools financial management is the execution by a person in a position of authority of those management actions (regulated tasks) connected with the financial aspects of schools and having the sole purpose of achieving effective education (Niemann 1997: 372). Similarly, Joubert and Bray (2007) describe a schools financial management as the performance of management

actions connected with the financial aspects of a school for the achievement of effective education. The common factor in these definitions of financial management is that a connection is made between the management tasks and the financial aspects of a school. The implication is that the management of school finances involves the task of planning (budgeting), organising (coordinating), leading (communicating and motivating), as well as controlling (auditing) (Clarke 2007). The above authors are also in accord that a schools financial management is imperative because it enables the school to achieve effective education.

In Kenya, the payment of school fees is different at different levels of education. Academies are primarily privately owned and parents have to pay fees of varying amounts. In public schools, at primary level, this is from Standard 1 to Standard 8, education is free. In secondary schools, this is, Form 1 to Form 4, parents are obliged to pay school fees, which vary from school to school.

The principals in Kenya have to carry out financial management. Parents have to be assured that the finances are managed properly at the schools under their custody, since payment of school fees is obligatory at all secondary and high schools. According to MOE the income of the school shall consist of all fees charged by the school. Although the Kenya Government remunerates the teaching staff, additional funding for secondary and high schools depends solely on school fees. It is obligatory for principals to ensure accountability and prudence in the utilisation of school funds.

Principals in Kenya are appointed on the basis of their teaching experience, as well as their academic and professional qualifications. Training in or even having a working knowledge of financial management is not considered a prerequisite for appointment to the position of principal. Consequently, principals in Kenya often lack the necessary management skills and specifically financial management skills. Several attempts have been made by the Ministry of Education to redress the incompetence of principals with regard to management. These include, inter alia, workshops for principals designed to improve their skills, attitudes and knowledge. In 1995, workshops were strengthened with the introduction of the Secondary Education Support Project which focused mainly on workshops and school visits. Inspectors also made several visits to schools and advised principals on what to do to improve school leadership practice, including the schools financial management. The Ministry of Education also called upon the Institute of Development Management and the Public University of Kenya to offer courses in management skills to practising heads of schools. The Government of Kenya, through the MOE, with the assistance of the British Governments Overseas Development Administration developed a Manual for Principals of Secondary and High Schools in 1995. This document was reviewed in 2006 and is supposed to be of assistance in providing knowledge of and guidance in the school management and administration in a concise and clear form (MOE 2006). It comprises, among other things, a chapter on finance. It, inter alia, provides guidance and information on a schools financial management which principals of secondary and high schools in Kenya are expected to use. Despite the efforts that have been taken to enhance the principals performance, schools still experience problems of poor management. Studies on principals of secondary and high schools indicate a number of deficiencies in the performance of their duties (UNESCO 2000). Some

studies specifically identify the lack of financial management capacity as a common concern in Kenya secondary and high schools (Mosoeunyane 1999; Kotele 2001). The mismanagement of funds by principals often leads a shortage of critical resources in schools as money is not available for the purchasing of the necessary books, equipment and so forth. This often results in the unsatisfactory performance of teachers and students (UNESCO 2000). The negative impact of a scarcity of resources on student performance was pointed out in study by Lekhetho (2003). It was furthermore reported by Wanjau (1990) that teachers and students of a high school in the County of Nyeri in Kenya went on strike in 2006 because their needs were not being met by the principal. It appeared that students were given poor quality food and there was lack of maintenance of buildings and facilities such as printing machines because the schools finances were not properly managed. We thus argue that if quality schooling is to be achieved, inter alia the finances of schools should be managed well. This highlights the need for a sound financial system, informed by a distinct financial policy. In Kenya such a policy exists in the form of a chapter on finance in the Manual for principals of secondary and high schools(FCPM).

The policy appears not to have had the required effect on the education system. This could be as a result of deficiencies in the policy as identified by Wanjau (1990) or as a result of problems regarding the implementation of the policy, or both. A critical policy analysis of the aforementioned chapter in the FCPM has shown that it is fraught with silences, contradictions and assumptions, consequently impeding the implementation of the policy guidelines (Wanjau 1990). The problem is engorged by the fact that schools neglect to draw up their own financial policy they uncritically use the FCPMs guidelines.

In the light of the foregoing, the following problem question needs to be explored: What are the realities with regard to the implementation of the FCPM in Kenya schools? In the quest to answer this question this paper will report on findings from a qualitative study on the perceptions and experiences regarding financial management of school principals in the Kaloleni District.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.3 Research Objectives The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of on-job-training on employee performance in organizations. The specific objectives of the study were: 1. To identify the effectiveness of budgeting in financial management in secondary schools. 2. To examine the effectiveness of accounting in financial management in secondary schools 3. To identify the effectiveness of auditing in financial management in secondary schools.

1.4 Research Questions The research was guided by the following research questions: 1. How effective is budgeting in financial management in secondary schools? 2. How effective is accounting in financial management in secondary schools? 3. How effective is auditing in financial management in secondary schools?

1.5 Research Hypothesis The following hypothesis was tested in this study: H0: There is a relationship between financial management and school performance H1: There is no relationship between financial management and school performance

1.6 The Study Area This study was conducted in the Kaloleni County of Kenya. Kaloleni is one of the forty seven counties of the country and is situated in the coastal part of Kenya. This study focused on the schools in Kaloleni town. The researchers interest in the Kaloleni County was prompted by the lack of research on educational issues on this area.

1.7 Significance of the Study The study is significant in that it will give recommendations to the Ministry of Education on the management of finance in secondary schools. The Principles in the schools of study will gain from learning on how to manage finances in their institutions so as to improve educational performance. Other researchers too might borrow a leaf from my research and get reference points.

1.8 Scope of the Study There are many secondary schools in Kenya. The Counties in Kenya are forty seven but the study will be limited to the secondary schools in Kaloleni County. The study concentrated on assessing the financial management practices of secondary schools in the Kaloleni County.

1.9 Limitations of the Study One limitation of this study was that the sample size was not adequate and that complete assessment was only done in only the secondary schools in Kaloleni County where a sample of the Principals who have managed finances was selected. While some input were available from the one county, the findings might not be fully representative of all the counties. Also, inaccessibility to highly classified information that is only accessible to principals such as bank statements, financial reports and recommendations inhibited the researchers access to information that could have been vital to this study.

1.10 Theoretical framework There is no single all-embracing theory of educational management. This reflects the diversity of educational institutions, the varied nature of problems encountered by educational institutions, and the multifaceted nature of theory in education and the social sciences. Bush (2004) classified the main theories of educational management into six major models of educational management: formal, collegial, political, subjective, ambiguity and cultural. This study uses a formal model as the researchers assume that schools are hierarchical systems in which principals use rational means to peruse agreed goals. Principals possess authority legitimized by their formal positions within the schools and are accountable to school governing bodies for their activities (cf. Bush 2004). Formal models give prominence to official structures, rational processes, the authority of leaders and accountability. These may be linked to the school management tasks identified by Clarke (2007), namely planning, organising, leading and controlling. The administration of a schools finances is an

integral part of effective school administration (Mestry 2004; Ntseto 2009). Each of the aforementioned tasks will briefly be considered regarding financial management.

Planning is a vital component of effective school financial administration (Du Preez et al. 2003). The planning of school finances usually begins with the drafting of a budget (Kruger 2005). According to Bisschoff (1997), a budget is the mission statement of the school expressed in monetary terms. McKinney (1995) argues that budgeting is an ongoing and dynamic process that is typically marked by regular phases, such as, planning, needs assessment and priority setting. Budgeting is a forward-looking process which should be guided by the schools vision for the future and a realistic assessment of the risks (Clarke 2007; Du Preez et al. 2003). Bisschoff (1997) summarises the purpose of a budget as assisting systematic planning; quantifying objectives and identifying priorities; coordinating activities and communicating plans within the organisation; motivating and increasing the accountability of middle management; authorizing expenditure and activities; controlling, monitoring and analysing expenditure; and evaluating performance. In an education organisation its financial administration activity means bringing all possible input from staff, parents, students and the community together to render the service of quality education (Bisschoff 1997). In this respect, organising of school finances should include aspects such as drawing up a school financial policy; setting up a structure within the school to handle administrative and financial matters; delegating certain functions to clerks, class teachers and the treasurer; and coordinating activities (Kruger 2005).

Leadership

in

financial

administration

involves

three

aspects:

sound

relationships,

communication with all stakeholders and internal as well as external and motivation of all the people concerned with school finances (Bisschoff 1997). Bisschoff (1997) notes that harmonious collaboration between academic and administration staff is a prerequisite for successfully achieving financial objectives. Niemann (1997) believes that financial activities are dealt with most effectively when both the administrative and academic personnel are involved in the process. Communication is the basis for establishing relationships and for providing motivation (Niemann 1997). Bisschoff (1997) argues that good communication will ensure that each staff member who is involved in school finances would be informed about authorisations for various expenditures, is knowledgably about the financial procedure for expending money, and knows to whom the results of the expenditure should be reported. Bisschoff (1997) emphasise that all staff members should feel that they have a role to play in all of the schools activities, as this will motivate them to work hard and consequently achieve effective and efficient financial administration. The financial planning of school finances and its control are interdependent and closely linked with each other. It can be deduced that the same relationship exists between the budget and control since a budget is a planning instrument (Bisschoff 1997). This means that financial planning is about budgeting and in this regard Wanjau (2001) argues that a budget is a financial control technique as well as a plan. Berkhout and Berkhout (1992) collaborate this view: budget systems cannot function without effective and appropriate control

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CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This chapter will review literature sources relating to financial management in secondary schools and will concentrate on the three major financial functions in education: budgeting, accounting, and auditing. Literature will be collected from books, journals, theses and relevant websites.

2.2 Main Review of Related Literature The three major financial functions in education - budgeting, accounting, and auditing - are separate, discrete operations, but they are nonetheless closely interrelated. They are required activities in providing reliable fiscal information, guidance, and accountability in the use of the money raised and expended in public education in the Kenya. Budgeting is a process and plan for determining how money is to be raised and spent, as well as a document - the budget developed and approved during the budgeting process. Money is organized and spent according to an accounting system, using a general ledger that standardizes each spending category and accounts for its use. The National Center for Education Statistics published the Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems, commonly called Handbook II, Revised (1990), by William J. Fowler. Handbook II, Revised is an accounting system with line codes for each category and function to make it easier for external agencies to analyze and audit school spending to ensure the legal and appropriate use of public funds.

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Budgeting William Hartman, author of School District Budgeting (1999), defines education budgeting as a "working tool" for the successful operation of states and local school districts, and as a "significant opportunity to plan the mission, improve their operations, and achieve their education objectives". As such, the budgeting process allows various levels of government to "make better financial and program decisions, improve operations, and enhance relations with citizens and other stakeholders". In more technical terms, a budget is a statement of the total educational program for a given unit, as well as an estimate of resources necessary to carry out the program and the revenues needed to cover those expenditures. A vertical budget includes the various income and expenditure estimates (by line item, function, object, and cost center) in a given fiscal year, while a horizontal budget will include current estimates for a given fiscal year, compared to prior audited income and expenditures, and a projection of costs into the future. Hence, the budget is a statement of purpose and a review of income and expenditures by function - with a timeline to explain past, current, and future financial practices. Education agencies, like businesses and other enterprises, have experimented with various forms of budget organization: line-item and function/object budgeting is basic to all systems; and planning-programming-budgeting systems, zero-based budgeting, and site-based budgeting are attempts to link the budget to goals and objectives while devolving the budgeting process to the school level.

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Line-item budgeting Barry Mundt et al. define line-item, or "traditional," budgeting as "a technique in which line items, or objects of expenditures - e.g., personnel, supplies, contractual services, and capital outlays - are the focus of analysis, authorization, and control". While helpful in tracking costs, line-item budgeting is virtually useless for planning or management, since the functions of the expenditures are not explained and the particular need, school site, and type of students being served are lost in spending aggregated by "line." Thus, teachers' salary, for example, is a budget line-item; but which teachers, at which schools, teaching which types of students (e.g., bilingual special needs) is not explained. Function/object budgeting. Most counties use function/object budgeting, since it organizes spending around the basic functions of the system, such as instruction, student support, operations, administration, and transportation. In addition, functions are subdivided (e.g., into elementary instruction, high school operations), while the object being purchased (e.g., elementary textbooks, high school cleaning equipment) is also specified. Personnel services or salaries and benefits may be handled by function; that is, for instructional, support, or plant maintenance staff, for example. While these broad categories, objects, and processes are generally the same for education budgeting across the country, a strategic attempt has also been made to determine the most effective and efficient uses of resources. These efforts have led to such innovations as zerobased, program-planning, and site-based budgeting, which attempt to be more mission-driven and constituent-friendly than traditional types of budgeting in education.

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Zero-based budgeting (ZBB). Popular in the 1950s and 1960s, ZBB began with the assumption that the school system starts out yearly with a "clean slate." Thus, each function, program, and agency has to justify its expenditures annually, relating all costs to system goals and objectives to avoid habitual spending. Because so many costs, such as tenured teachers' salaries and benefits, are "fixed" across annual budgets, and because the programs are so complex, zero-based budgeting becomes more an exercise than a practical reality. As Hartman(1965) explains, "ZBB forces comparisons of and choices among programs and activities that are often difficult to compare adequately". In addition, most programs are not "up for grabs" on an annual basis, since, for example, schools cannot eliminate their elementary school classes, making such a requirement difficult to justify. Program-planning-budgeting systems (PPBS). It seeks greater efficiency by attaching spending to particular programs. While rarely used in education, PPBS would require schools to spell out their mission and goals, lay out alternatives to reach these objectives, attribute costs to each choice, analyze the costs, select the best option, and then build the budget around this outcome, and finally feed data back to adjust the costs to the results. While this method sounds ideal, it often becomes so complex, and the programs so numerous, that school districts and states cannot readily sustain this approach.

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Site-based (school-site) budgeting (SBB). SBB is concerned with who will do the budgeting and where in the organizational hierarchy the decisions will be made. In attempts to bring the budgeting process closer to "end-users" - the teachers, parents, and school administrators - SBB encourages, if not requires, decision-makers in each school to examine their programs and to set their budgets to meet their particular needs as part of the process of shared decision-making. Allan Odden et al. explain that school reform may require greater decentralization, a step "in which teams of individuals who actually provide the services are given decision-making authority and held accountable for results". Under sitebased budgeting, districts must determine who will serve on SBB committees; which decisions and resources are devolved to schools - and using what formulas; how much autonomy is granted to spend for local school needs; exactly how to analyze the budget at each school; and what training and support are needed to make SBB work effectively. In practice, school districts or divisions thereof will utilize variations of many, if not all, of the above methods in compiling their budgets. For example, a school principal may require teachers to justify their individual budget requests (zero-based) in the development of a school (sitebased) budget. A component of the district's budget may include a proposal for a new educational program, including all anticipated expenditures, revenues, and cost savings (program-planning budget). The entire district budget may be compiled onto a state-mandated format that requires line items to be categorized by fund, function, program, and object (function/object budgeting). Once the fiscal year begins, the budget is transformed from a financial plan into the initial baseline data for a working, dynamic financial accounting system.

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Accounting Related to budgeting is the accounting system. If a school's budget is a financial reflection of its educational mission, goals, and philosophies, then the accounting system becomes the method by which a district can assess the overall effectiveness of the financial plan. In fact, the accounting structure (line items, spending categories, costing and spending procedures) is reflected in the budget, and will later be used in auditing the system for legal, appropriate, and responsible spending. David Thompson and Craig Wood (1996) explain five purposes for the use of accounting in schools. The first purpose is to "set up a procedure by which all fiscal activities in a district can be accumulated, categorized, reported, and controlled". The second function is to assess the alignment of the district's financial plan (budget) with the district's educational programs. An accounting system allows the district's management to assess whether a district has the financial resources to meet the needs of its programs. The third function relates to the government reporting requirements to which schools must adhere. Governments have the constitutional authority for the provision of education, and, as such, they bear the final responsibility for fiscal accountability. Likewise, state funds are distributed to regions - through the counties - and require adequate accounting and reporting procedures. These reporting requirements have led to the development and adoption of uniform budgeting procedures and accounting standards. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), operating under the auspices of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPACK), is responsible for the establishment and revision of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for local and state governments.

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One significant difference in the utilization of GAAP for school and GAAP for private business is that schools utilize fund accounting that classifies spending into three broad fund categories: governmental, proprietary, and fiduciary. Governmental funds represent those activities typical of district operations such as instruction, special revenues (grants), and debt service funds. Proprietary funds include those activities that are similar to private enterprise, such as food service and transportation funds. Fiduciary funds are utilized when the district is acting directly for a third party, including private trusts (scholarships), pension trusts, investment trusts, and agency (payroll) funds. Budget preparation is the fourth purpose of accounting. By accumulating accurate baseline data, accounting provides the budget with the information necessary for a horizontal comparison (prior year, current year, and future annual revenues) of actual vertical (line-item) expenditures and budget performance. The fifth and final purpose of accounting, as proposed by Thompson and Wood, is to provide proper fiscal controls and accountability, which, in turn, build public trust and confidence. Critics of the current system of accounting utilized in public schools have claimed that the collection and reporting of financial data no longer provides adequate information to policymakers. Jay G. Chambers asserts that the desire for programmatic cost information, the need for data compatibility, and the importance of understanding the relation-ship between educational inputs and outputs all point to the need for improving the standards for organizing and reporting educational resource data. To measure resources adequately in education, Chambers proposes a system that is related more to economics rather than accounting.

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The resource cost model, which Chambers recommends, "places paramount importance on measuring productivity and the cost-effectiveness analysis, the economist's stock in trade". This financial analysis model allows expenditure data to be reported on a school-by-school basis and actually tracks money spent on the classroom for "classroom instruction." The reporting program allows policy-makers to "explore the equity, efficiency, and effectiveness of spending"(Cooper et al. 2001, p. 28) between schools as opposed to school districts. Accounting is thus the tool by which school district management can structure, organize, and operationalize the school's financial plan (the budget). Accounting also provides the roadmap by which fiduciary entities, such as board of education members, public citizens, and state government officials can evaluate a school's financial status. In addition, school district accounting provides the necessary procedures and data to enable an independent, certified public accountant to conduct the school's annual financial audit. Auditing Since schools are public agencies, their raising and spending of money must be reviewed and audited on a yearly basis - and on an as-needed basis, as determined by the governing body. In addition, an effective management system would include internal reviews and audits on a continuous basis to ensure accuracy and prevent fraud. Thus, two broad categories of audits external and internal - are important in holding schools accountable for the use of public funds. An external audit is an objective, systematic review of resources and operations, followed by a written or oral report of findings. Robert E. Everett et al.(1995) define three basic types of external audits. Financial compliance audits address the "fairness of presentation of basic

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financial statements in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)". This type of audit is most commonly associated with the annual independent audit that most states require: namely, a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) to be prepared by the school district that conforms to standards developed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and state reporting requirements. It is the auditor's responsibility to render an opinion of the financial statements contained in the CAFR, based on their audit of district records. A program compliance audit is a review of a local education agency's adherence to the educational and financial requirements of a specific funding source, such as a discretionary federal grant. The third type of audit is a performance audit, which addresses the "economy and efficiency of the local education agency (Everett et al., p. 4), examining a local education agency's internal controls for weaknesses, which would expose possible mismanagement or fraud. Internal audits, on the other hand, are usually incorporated into a district's internal control procedures, a system of checks and balances designed to ensure ongoing accountability by requiring certain members of the organization to perform a financial audit on an individual or department. For example, board of education members perform an audit each month on the financial statements submitted to them for their approval. The requirement of multiple signatures for the approval of a purchase order constitutes an internal audit of purchasing. The accounting or bookkeeping department may also perform an audit on the general ledger prior to closing the financial statements at the end of each month.

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Future Trends The school finance system, with its budgeting, accounting, and auditing sub-systems, was designed to support the operation and improvement of public education. When a public budget is aligned to the needs and programs of the state, county, or school; when the accounting structure is clear and well constructed to reflect the way money is collected and spent; and when the auditing process determines that money was managed legally and appropriately, then school should have the tools to use funds effectively, efficiently, and productively. With new technologies, a popular drive to improve the funding of education, greater interest in schools as the decision-making unit, increased privatization of education, and the growing influence of government agencies in determining accounting and budgeting principles, the nation faces an interesting and challenging future in school finance.

2.9 Summary

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CHAPTER THREE 3.0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the study design and methodology used in collecting and analyzing data on the assessment of financial management in secondary schools by looking at the target population, sampling design and procedure, data collection and instruments and, procedure validity and reliability of instruments and data analysis.

3.2 Research Design This research was adopted as descriptive case study research design. The design is preferred for it is fact finding and descriptive in the capacity of establishing the truth. Neuman (2000:74) infers that descriptive research had the capacity to describe the present status of phenomena, determining the nature of the prevailing conditions, practices and attitudes and seeking accurate descriptions of activities. This study seeks to assess the financial management in secondary schools.

3.3 Target Population The study targeted the schools in the county of Kaloleni. The unit of analysis is the principals and teachers of the secondary schools in the area.

3.4 Sampling Design and Procedure A sample is a small proportion of a population selected for observation and analysis (Best and Khan, 2004). Sampling on the other hand means selecting a given number of subjects from a

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definite population as a representative of that population. A sample procedure is a definite plan determined before any data is collected for obtaining a sample from a given population.

Simple random sampling technique is to be used to select a sample from the principals and teachers who are involved in financial management. A sample of 50 was selected.

Table 3.1 Sampling Frame and Size for the study Category Principals Teachers Total 3.5 Data Collection Instruments Data was collected by use of open and closed ended questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of questions, which had both multiple choice and structured questions. The researcher is to personally administer the questionnaires to ensure a high return rate. Interview schedule will also be administered to the principals. Financial records are used to obtain data on the performance of the organisation. Population 30 70 100 Sample 15 35 50

3.5.1 Data collection procedure Data used was from primary and secondary sources. The production records were used to source secondary data. The main research instruments used to collect primary data was the questionnaires and interview schedules. The researcher administered the questionnaires to the

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selected respondents and also interviewed he supervisors and management in the respective departments to verify data that was obtained.

3.6 Data Analysis Data collected is to be processed, coded and analyzed to facilitate answering the research objectives and questions. This was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive analyses, included frequencies, percentages, tables and cross-tabulations, was used to summarize, organize data and describe the characteristics of the sample population. Inferential statistics was used in making deductions and generalizations about the whole population using sample data. A chi-square test was used to establish whether there exists an association between financial management and performance in schools. If a relationship is established, Spear man rank order correlation is to be calculated to establish the nature of relationship. This was done with the aid of a computer program - Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5 for windows.

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