Barriers impeding financial management accountability by School Governing Bodies in Soweto
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
With the advent of the South African Schools Act (SASA), School Governing Bodies (SGBs) were introduced into the South African Education landscape and assigned a task amongst others, of managing school finances. This meant that different stakeholders that are elected to serve on the SGBs carry a responsibility to plan, budget, spend and account for school finances. The unintended consequences of assigning the financial management task to SGBs was that stakeholders who had never managed public funds, now carried this responsibility. Added to this, was the danger of mismanagement and misappropriation of these very funds.
A number of SGBs in Gauteng found themselves in breach of the SASA in so far as it relates to managing school finances in that some of them mismanaged funds to a point of fraud and/or corruption. Despite efforts from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to provide training and orientation for SGB members, funds kept being mismanaged by some SGBs. The purpose of this research was to explore the barriers that impede financial management accountability of SGBs in selected schools in Soweto, Johannesburg South District. In order to accomplish the above, this research adopted an accountability framework through which all SGBs surveyed were going to be measured. This study adopted a cross-sectional design approach and used descriptive research to explain the phenomenon
related to barriers impeding financial management accountability in the selected schools. The results revealed that perceptions surrounding accountability by SGB members are not sufficiently positively skewed to ensure financial management accountability. Sixteenpercent (16%) of the SGB members surveyed felt that the presence of an external evaluation does not affect their credibility whereas a further eighty six percent (86%) of those surveyed, indicated that they do not expect any consequences for financial decisions taken. On the positive side, fifty one percent (51%) of all SGB members surveyed were of the view that there will be increase in the social standing when they attend more SGB meetings and perform their responsibilities
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022
Keywords
SGB, Financial management, Accountability, UCTD
Citation
Mogorosi, Roche. (2022). The role of design houses [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40270