Plan to Budget and Cash Management in Uasin Gishu County Government, Kenya

Abstract

Techniques and systems to improve and modernize cash management in the non-private sectors are increasingly being explored by governments in less developed countries. Efficient management of public funds mainly focuses on budgeting, procurement and reporting. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of plan to budget module of Integrated Financial Management Information System and cash management in Uasin Gishu County Government. Government policy was the moderating variable. This was necessitated by the fact that the Kenyan government has experienced consistent misappropriation of public funds in county governments despite the introduction of Integrated Financial Management Information System as an appropriate modern accounting system for efficient public cash management. The study was based on systems theory. The target population of the study was 185 employees from sections using Integrated Financial Management Information System. A sample size of 177 respondents was drawn from the population by use of stratified random sampling method. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Construct validity of the research instruments was determined using Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's tests with values of above 0.5 and probability values less than 0.05 considered valid. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach’s alpha with alpha coefficient of above 0.70 being considered reliable. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyse the data. Multiple regression and Pearson correlation were used for inferential statistics. Data results and findings were displayed in tables, figures, graphs and pie chart. The study findings revealed that plan to budget module had statistically significant influence on Cash Management in Uasin Gishu County Government by explaining 12.9% of the variation in Cash Management [Adjusted R Square = 0.129, F (1, 172) = 26.577, Prob. = 0.000 < 0.05]. The null hypothesis of the study was rejected since there was a significant positive relationship between plan to budget and cash management. The study recommends that same study to be done in other remaining county governments. This study informed the executive management of Uasin Gishu County Government on how to improve management of cash by using IFMIS.

Keywords: Misappropriation, Efficient, Cash management, Integrated Financial Management.

DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-18-12

Publication date:September 30^th 2019