Challenges of budget implementation by the Kenya commission for higher education

Abstract

A budget whether it is for a public institution or for a private profit oriented company, is a
\nbasic and powerful tool in management and serves as a tool for planning and controlling
\nthe use of scarce financial resources in the accomplishment of organizational goals.
\nDespite this importance of budgeting, the implementation there-of and its suggested links
\nto organizational structure, there has been little empirical exploration of how public
\nsector budget implementation has developed within increasingly decentralized
\nframeworks of governance. Most of the studies on budgeting mainly focus on the
\npublicly listed firms sector and less on the non-listed sector. The study sought to
\ndetermine the challenges of budget implementation at the Commission for Higher
\nEducation in Kenya.
\nThis study was a descriptive in nature done on a population consisting of 82 members of
\nstaff at the Secretariat of the Commission for Higher Education. Self-administered
\nquestionnaires were distributed to the sample drawn and descriptive analysis were
\nemployed. Pie charts, tables, graphs were then used as appropriate to present the data The study found that the Commission faces several budget implementation challenges
\nsuch as managers feeling insecure when following proscribed/restricted procedures,
\ncorruption, lack of co-ordination, changing environmental needs, poor corporate
\ngovernance structures, insufficient implementation capacities, delays in mobilizing
\nexternal financing, overoptimistic implementation schedules and environmental hazards
\nlike sudden change in regulations. The study hence recommends that the Commission
\nshould overcome the challenges by studying the inflation trends since an increase in the
\nsame leads to increase in cost and unexpected difficulties, conduct sufficient initial study so as to overcome the wide variance by conducting a monthly or quarterly review of
\nfinancial implementation of the budget and the Commission to further identify budget
\noverruns so that adequate countermeasures can be prepared