Internal control systems, school governance and financial management in public secondary schools in selected districts of Busoga sub region

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between internal control systems, school governance and financial management in public secondary schools in selected districts of the Busoga sub-region. The study examined four objectives: to establish the relationship of internal control systems and financial management, to assess the influence of internal control systems on school governance, to determine the effect of school governance on the financial management, and to determine the mediating role of school governance on the relationship between internal control systems and financial management. The study was drawn in Agency Theory, and a cross-sectional research design with a quantitative approach was adopted. The target population comprised 39 public secondary schools, and the sample size was 35 schools were selected purposively due to ongoing challenges in financial management. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires, and were assessed for validity and reliability. The valid data were coded, cleaned and entered into SPSS version 25 for analysis using Pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis and process macro for analyzing mediation. The findings revealed that internal control systems significantly influence both financial management and school governance. The results also indicated that school governance significantly relates with financial management, while school governance partially mediates the relationship between internal control systems and financial management. The study concluded that while internal control systems is significantly associated with financial management, their relationship can be further enhanced by effectiveness of the school’s corporate governance. The study thus recommends strengthening the capacity and involvement of school governing bodies to improve financial management practices in public secondary schools.