Auditing public schools' financial records: A study of financial management from the eyes of relevant stakeholders

The demand for proper financial management in schools is dictated by the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, Section 43(1), according to which public schools must retain a suitably qualified accountant registered in terms of the Public Accountants and Auditors Act, 1991 (Act No.80 of 1991), to audit the school's financial records and statements. This study investigated the schools' financial management stakeholders' experiences of the auditing of public schools' financial records. A qualitative approach was applied in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from three purposefully selected secondary schools in which principals, chairpersons of the finance committees and finance officers were involved. A case study design was applied. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the collected data. All the participants demonstrated limited knowledge and understanding of the processes and procedures of auditing financial records, including an inability to interpret the audited financial reports. However, the participants revealed the benefits of audited financial reports, such as trust from parents in how school finances are managed. Furthermore, the audited financial reports enable schools to seek and apply for additional funding from businesses and other organisations, and to be allocated funds from the Department of Basic Education (DBE). This study recommends that the Department of Education should provide stakeholders in financial management with adequate support and training in auditing processes and procedures and interpretation of financial auditing reports

Understanding school leadership : a study of the ACE school leadership programme and leadership practices

The South African Department of Education (DoE) introduced a new threshold qualification, Advanced Certificate in Education (School Leadership), which was the first concrete step towards implementing a compulsory professional qualification for principalship. The qualification is called ACE ‘School Leadership’ but the outcomes in the learning content designed by the DoE tend to focus on ‘management’. Since this qualification was only implemented from 2008, the synchrony between the theory and practice has not yet been investigated. The focus of this paper was to determine whether the ACE promoted leadership practices (ideographic dimensions) rather than just management skills (nomothetic dimensions). This study employed qualitative case study research methods and procedures to investigate the influence of the ACE School Leadership programme on leadership practices. Six principals who had completed the ACE School Leadership programme and their 24 subordinates from Mpumalanga, one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, were purposively selected. The findings display ample evidence of the nomothetic dimensions of the social systems theory outweighing the ideographic dimensions in the principal preparation programme. Principals showed confidence in management and this gave rise to unconscious leadership practices. Subordinates in their schools scored them highly regarding compliance and stated that they were more participative in their approach. The contribution that this research makes is that future preparation programmes be balanced regarding the social systems theory and contain contextual case studies; networking opportunities and strategic and innovative thinking which would result in principals not just being compliant, but competent and capable of leading school improvement. The study suggests a model for future effective leadership preparation programmes. The model outlines the threshold principal roles and the principal primary roles. The study acknowledges the need for more research on how principal leadership preparation programmes influence leadership practices. The ACE school leadership programme demonstrated in this study its ability to develop principals’ management practices and a need to develop principals’ leadership skills more. Findings in this study demonstrate improvement in learner performance for the principals who attended the ACE programme. The refinement of the ACE programme’s curriculum could lead to school leadership improvementThesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.tm2015Education Management and Policy StudiesPhDUnrestricte