The study explores the dynamics of financial management in primary schools in Swaziland through an interpretive paradigm that uses a case study approach. It sets out a formal model of educational management as its framework for exploring school principals' understanding of financial management and roles in financial management, the skills and competencies principals need to perform their duties, and the challenges they face.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
According to MOES (2010), school leaders must carry out their financial management tasks with accountability and transparency. The adequacy of this education in relation to the financial management tasks of school leaders remains a problem.
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
It is therefore against these concerns that my interest was piqued to begin this study to examine the dynamics of financial management in schools. Additionally, there appears to be no major primary study in Swaziland undertaken regarding financial management in schools.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
A study conducted by Thenga (2012) in South Africa proves that financial management in schools is a challenging task for principals. It is important to conduct research that will expose directors' understanding of their roles in financial management in Swaziland.
THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What are the skills and competencies that school principals need to carry out their responsibilities of school financial management. How can principals be enabled to perform their financial management roles.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The Ministry will benefit from this study because it is responsible for developing policies that are used by school principals in managing school funds. It is hoped that this study can reveal possible strategies for how the best school principals can be skilled in relation to their financial management roles.
CONCEPT CLARIFICATION
In this study, the term skill will be used to refer to the director's ability and knowledge in performing financial management tasks. This concept will be used in this research to refer to the knowledge that a client possesses in relation to his financial management tasks.
ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY
This term in the study will be used to refer to financial management that includes sloppy bookkeeping, inadequate planning of school funds, and failure to account for funds that have been spent in the school. The term as used in the study will refer to the various aspects involved in and faced by role players in financial management.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The role of principals in financial management in schools was reviewed, as well as the factors that hinder school principals from performing financial management tasks. In addition, the skills and competencies principals need to perform their financial management tasks are discussed.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ROLE: SCHOOL PRINCIPAL OR COMMITTEES
The law states that the principal is responsible for the efficient management of the school, under the supervision of the head of department (HOD). This policy further stipulates that the school principal is the accounting officer and in that capacity is responsible for all financial transactions.
ROLES OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT The role of the school principal in the management of finances is multifaceted as
BUDGETING
The budget is an important instrument in the operation of the school, which makes it necessary for the school director to participate extensively in its preparation. In the case of Swaziland, the principal is accountable to the TSC, which consists of the employer, parents and the school committee.
RECORD KEEPING
Swartz (2012) conducted a study on financial management of schools in Pinetown schools and shares the same sentiments as Motsami et al. 2011) and her findings noted that records of financial management are always lacking in schools. There is no doubt that the success of the financial management process requires proper record keeping which is extremely important for the principal to be able to handle this role with all expertise.
MONITORING
CHALLENGES FACED BY PRINCIPALS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL FINANCES
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
This clearly indicates that knowledge of financial management is of crucial importance for school leaders. In a sense, a principal's lack of knowledge of financial management and reliability of an authoritative auditor who hardly ever or randomly visits selected schools tends to result in ineffective performance of his duties.
CHALLENGES IN PLANNING
Kwesu (2010) notes that lack of supervision leads to poor financial management in terms of all activities including planning the use of funds through budgets and controlling the budgets through the budget control system. The lack of this financial knowledge among directors may be due to the failure to include financial management courses in diploma and training courses at colleges and universities.
LACK OF AND LATE DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS
SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES SCHOOL PRINCIPALS NEED IN MANAGING FINANCES
All these committees must be organized by the principal as the leader of the school. It is the duty of the headteacher to safeguard all property in the school and ensure that it is used only for authorized purposes. This must include both physical and movable assets.
FORMAL MODELS AND MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP
Leading as a management function involves inspiring subordinates towards the common goal and vision of the school. Financial management is key to managing the school as a whole; however, there is a lack of literature on this phenomenon in Swaziland.
SUMMARY
Although in some cases there are workshops for the capacity of the school principal, the suitability of these workshops remains controversial. This study hopes to close the gap by exposing the challenges in school fund management and those that prevent the school principal from performing his duties well.
RESEARCH PARADIGM
In this study, I physically interacted with the participants to gain a deeper understanding of their opinions, their observations, and their concerns in performing their financial management roles. Their roles are subjective in the sense that they may have personal meanings and personal understandings of their roles based on their context of action.
RESEARCH APPROACH
This interpretive paradigm was important to my study because I was working with five principals and their roles were characterized by subjective activities and they provided subjective meanings. This approach is a form of social research that focuses on how people interpret and understand their experiences and the world in which they exist (Cohen, Manion & Morrison 2011).
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF THE STUDY
Therefore, the case study was suitable for this research because it enabled me to understand more deeply the phenomenon that was studied; financial management in schools. Those in the peri-urban are approximately 4 kilometers apart and about 15 kilometers south of the city of Mbabane.
SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
The two in a rural setting are much further about 20 kilometers southeast of Mbabane, Swaziland's capital.
DATA GENERATION
Okumbe (2010) considers financial records in schools as bank statements, quotations, invoices, receipts, analysis book petty cash receipts and check stubs. These records were examined because they are the ones that contain all information within a school related to financial management.
DATA ANALYSIS
Thematic analysis helps researchers move their analysis from a broad reading of the data to discovering patterns and developing themes. In the analysis, the data from the documents I checked generated data from the documents against a data sheet to determine if they were telling a compelling story.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
In addition, I held meetings with the participants prior to their participation in the study informing them of the nature of the research and the purpose of the study (Oosthuizen, 2015). It was further pointed out that if they wished to withdraw at any time during the study, they were free to do so.
TRUSTWORTHINESS
Trustworthiness requires that the researcher have a comprehensive description of the research process and that he or she follows research practices closely. To achieve this, self-reflection was undertaken in this study by identifying the researcher's own biases and finding ways to reduce them in the research.
SUMMARY
Guba (1985) in this study, the researcher involved the participants extensively in the data generation process and kept clear and accurate notes according to the research objectives and verified data to check for agreement with emerging themes from the participants' information. According to Shenton (2004), confirmability refers to the steps taken by the researcher to ensure that the research findings reflect the understanding and views of the participants and not the researcher by reducing researcher bias.
INTRODUCTION
PROFILING OF RESEARCH SITES AND PARTICIPANTS .1 Research sites profiles
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
PRINCIPALS’ FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ROLE
With the help of the school board and teachers, I am also the supervisor of the use of funds. ZURS (1996) stipulated that the principal must direct the SGB in the management of funds.
SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES NEEDED BY PRINCIPALS FOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ROLE
Participants were almost in agreement regarding the skills and competencies they need in the performance of their duties. Most participants felt that they needed reporting skills in carrying out their financial management roles.
FACTORS HINDERING SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN EXECUTING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DUTIES
The participants also noted a lack of knowledge on their part as a challenge they faced in performing their tasks. Hanshraf (2007) and Mngoma (2009) indicated that principals may be challenged by a lack of knowledge in the performance of their financial management duties.
CAPACITATION OF PRINCIPALS
It was observed from these statements that the participants needed to be strengthened in their financial management roles. The Ministry should plan such training and it should ensure that persons appointed to principal positions have been trained in financial management.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
To achieve this goal, the study asks how principals understand financial management, what factors hinder principals from performing their duties, what skills and competencies principals need, and how principals can best be trained to perform their duties. Based on the above stated objectives of the study, this chapter aims to provide a summary of the findings and contributions of the study.
STUDY SUMMARY
In addition to the literature, the theoretical framework that guided the study and served as a lens to study the dynamics of financial management in schools is also discussed. The data were then presented in four main themes; school principals' understanding of financial management roles, the skills and competencies needed by principals and the challenges they face in executing their roles.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS RESTATED
Important aspects of the financial management role for the school principal include accounting, record keeping and reporting. The findings indicated that directors had a consensus understanding of their financial management roles and the concept of financial management.
CONCLUSIONS
In Swaziland as a developing country, there is a dearth of literature on financial management in schools. Based on the results of the survey, I recommend that surveys be carried out on financial management in schools.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY
In addition to including financial management as a course, the ministry should establish a succession plan. Within the three-month period, the appointed director must undergo financial management orientation and training.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
A FINAL WORD
Title of the study: dynamics of financial management; a case of selected primary schools in Swaziland. The aim of the research is to explore the dynamics of financial management in selected schools.
