The Effects of Financial Strategies on the Performance of Public Universities

Abstract

Financial strategies are important aspects of an organization. Some of them are profit distribution strategies, investment strategies and financing strategy. However in academic institutions some financial strategies are specialized. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of financial strategies on the performance of public universities in Kenya. The study employed a case study research design since it was an in depth investigation of an individual group of employees or firm. The study was conducted in Moi University, Eldoret. The study targeted the senior management, at the upper level management and the financial manager, accounts manager, in the middle level management. The study used a percentage of 30% of the target population to get a sample size of respondents. Purposive sampling was used to sample first level management while stratified random sampling was used to sample middle level management. The study used questionnaire and interview schedules. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data collected from the field. Inferential and descriptive statistics specifically played an important role in the presentation and interpretation of analyzed data both qualitative and quantitative. The key findings of the study indicated that financial management strategies had a great impact on the students’ enrolment with the investment strategy being identified as most effective strategy for enhancing the performance of the financial institutions. The study therefore concluded that it was important for the institution to focus on the key influences of each strategies identified to enhance the performance of the institution. The study recommended more effective use of the profit distribution strategies to support the investment strategies to better enhance performance.