INFLUENCE OF PRINCIPALS’ FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study examined influence of Principals’ Financial Management Strategies on Effective Administration of Private Secondary Schools in Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The researcher used descriptive research design for this study. The population of this study comprised 913 principals in the 913 private secondary schools Anambra State. Purposive sampling and proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to draw 457 sample size for this study. The instruments for data collection were two sets of questionnaires structured by the researchers tagged; “Principals’ Financial Management Strategies Questionnaire (PFMSQ)” and “Principals’ Effective Administration Questionnaire (PAEQ)’’. The face validity of the instruments was established by three experts; two in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation. All three experts are lecturers in the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus, Anambra State. The construct validity of the instruments was explored using Principal Component Analysis approach. Cronbach Alpha procedure was used to determine the internal consistency of the instruments with an average reliability coefficient of 0.80.  The collected data was analyzed using mean, standard deviation, simple and multiple regression. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.  The findings of this study indicated that that expenditure control strategy and budgeting strategy have significant influence on effective administration of private secondary schools in Anambra State while inventory management strategy has no significant influence on effective administration of private secondary schools in Anambra. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that; private school owners should organize training for principals on the how to control the school expenditure, budgeting and proper implementation of budgets.  This study has contributed to knowledge by empirically establishing that financial management strategies of expenditure control and budgeting significantly influence effective administration of private secondary schools in Anambra State while inventory management strategy does not.