INTERNAL CONTROL MEASURES ADOPTED BY PRINCIPALS FOR REDUCING FINANCIAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE
Abstract
This study investigated internal control measures adopted by Principals for reducing financial misappropriation in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 526 respondents made up of 263 principals and 263 bursars in the 263 public secondary schools in Anambra State.All the 526 were used for the study due to relatively manageable size of the population. A researcher-developed instrument titled ‘‘Principals’ Internal Control Measures for reducing Financial Misappropriation Questionnaire (PICMRFMQ)’’ was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts comprising two lecturers from the Department of Educational Management and Policy, and one in Measurement and Evaluation from Department of Education Foundations, Faculty of Education, NnamdiAzikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha which yielded coefficients of 0.82, 0.80 and 0.77 for clusters I, II and III respectively and overall value of 0.80. The researcher together with five research assistants collected data for the study and 98% return rate was recorded. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed among others that preventive and detective measures are adopted by Principals for reducing financial misappropriation in public secondary schools in Anambra State. It also found that corrective measures are not adopted by Principals for reducing financial misappropriation in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others Ministry of Education should develop policy to improve the adoption of corrective measures of reducing financial misappropriation in secondary schools by outlining procedures for investigation and possible prosecution of suspected staff that engage in fraudulent practices
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