PRINCIPALS’ APPLICATION OF FINANCIAL POLICY FOR EFFECTIVE SECONDARY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined application of finance policy by secondary school principals for effective school 
administration in Anambra State. Descriptive design was used for the study. Two research questions 
and one hypothesis guided the study. The population of the study was 263 principals and 170 bursars 
from the 263 public secondary schools in the six education zones in Anambra State. The sample size 
used for the study was 170 respondents comprising 120 principals and 50 bursars, drawn through the 
use of simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was the researcher’s 
structured questionnaire titled “Financial Policy for Effective School Administration Questionnaire 
(FPESAQ)”. It was a 4 point rating scale questionnaire with face and content validity ascertained by 
three experts, one from Measurement and Evaluation and two from Educational Management, Faculty 
of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Anambra State. To ascertain 
the internal consistency of the instrument, the Cranach’s Alpha method was used to compute the 
reliability index which yielded over all coefficient of 0.83 which made the instrument reliable. The 
research questions were answered using mean and standard derivation, while the hypothesis was 
tested with t-test. The findings of the study revealed among others that principals do not apply quality 
control mechanism most times for effective secondary school administration. Based on the findings it 
was recommended among others that principals should ensure organization of financial seminars, 
workshops and training periodically for bursars and workers in accounts department to reduce finance 
mismanagement.