Effectiveness of the Facility Financial Accounting and Reporting System in Managing Public Secondary School Funds in Nyamagana District, Tanzania

James Ling’hwa and Michaela Mhagama
St. Augustine University of Tanzania
Department of Education Foundations
Mail: jlinghwa2015@gmail.com & michaelamhagama@gmail.com

Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of the facility finan cial accounting and reporting system (FFARS) in managing public secondary schools’ funds. FFARS is an electronic system used in planning and budgeting as well as expenditure tracking. The study governed by three specific objectives: To evaluate the accessibility of FFARS infrastructure; To identify the challenges of FFARS in managing public secondary school funds; and finally proposing the strategies that public secondary schools could use to reduce the shortcomings of FFARS. Mixed research approach was applied with an exploratory case study design. Data were collected through questionnaires and interview schedules. The study involved 5 heads of schools, 4 ward education officers, 1 district education officer and 171 teachers. The study revealed that although the ICT infrastructure for FFARS was available to all public secondary schools, their accessibility was still unreliable. Also, it was discovered that there were shortage of ICT infrastructure and IT experts. Moreover, it was observed that sufficient distribution of ICT infrastructure for FFARS and raising awareness of technology users were seen to be important strategies to reduce the observed challenges of the system. The study therefore recommended the continued use of the system because it had made a significant contribution in managing the disbursed funds. The study recommends the continued training programmes for School Management Teams (SMT) and bursars to boost ICT literacy, deploying proper ICT infrastructure for the system and raising awareness of the system’s usefulness.