RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRINCIPALS’ FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY AND MANAGEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between principals’ financial management competency and management of secondary schools in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State. One research question guided the study and one null hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance. Correlational research design was adopted using a population of 1,615 secondary school teachers in the 32 public secondary schools in the study area. Stratified random sampling technique was utilized to select a sample size of 485 teachers. A structured questionnaire developed by the researcher was used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficients obtained from the PFMQ was 0.84, while that of MQ was 0.81. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions and to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significant. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data collected. The results showed that there is a very low positive relationship between principals’ financial management and management of secondary schools in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State. The results also showed that there was no significant relationship between principals’ financial management and management of secondary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that the principal’s competency in keeping accurate financial records of the school and giving true and fair view of the financial statements of the school is highly needed as this would serve as an avenue for the government to give out more fund for school development.