Budget Planning and Defense Practices adopted by Principals of Public Secondary Schools for Effective Financial Management in Delta State, Nigeria

The study investigated the budget planning and defense practices adopted by principals of public secondary schools for effective financial management in Delta State, Nigeria. The study answered two research questions, and further tested two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 485 principals of public secondary schools in Delta State. Instrument titled, ‘budget planning and defense practices adopted by principals of public secondary schools for effective financial management Scale (BPDPPPSSEFMS)’ was used for the data collection. The data obtained were subjected to test of internal consistency using Cronbach Alpha, and the reliability indices for the clusters B1 and B2 were 0.86 and 0.82, respectively, and considered suitable for the study. The researchers together with the help of six research assistants collected relevant data. Mean was used for answering the research questions, while z-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. The study found among other things that in planning the budget, principals are guided by such practices as: inclusion of unexpected expenditure in budget planning; sources of revenue; objectives and goals the budget is to achieve, etc. It was concluded that principals have common budgeting practices they adopt in pursuit of effective financial management in public secondary schools in Delta State. Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education should regularly organized school budgeting related workshop and seminars for principals, in order to keep them abreast with latest practices and workable strategies for planning a school budget.