The Influence of Budgeting and Financial Reporting on Financial Accountability in Primary Education Programs in Uganda

Budgeting and financial reporting are widely acknowledged as crucial mechanisms for promoting the financial accountability of institutions for the resources entrusted to them. Financial statements enable delegated institutions like schools, to provide financial information to users (who include central governments, donors and citizens) as the principals, to evaluate how funds have been used to deliver services. This article aimed to investigate the effectiveness of budgeting and financial reporting in enhancing the financial accountability of primary education programs, especially the UPE capitation grant in Uganda. The study conducted an exploratory review of literature and used semi-structured interviews to collect data. The findings revealed several challenges which haunt the effectiveness of budgeting and financial reporting in enhancing financial accountability. The guidelines did not allow officials any flexibility in utilising the grant according to their priorities. The head teacher is solely responsible for producing the accountability statements yet they do not have the skills to write the books of accounts which means that accountability statements produced by the head teachers may not meet the accuracy and reliability requirements. The gap of deficiency of skills among the key actors is a dominant finding, that undermines the role players’ effectiveness in promoting accountability and performance of the capitation grant. The gaps discovered in the budgeting and financial reporting process imply that there is a need for sufficient budgeting and financial reporting skills that will enhance the approval process and monitoring of the budget for the capitation grant. State the contribution of this study to scholarship. Keywords: Budgeting, Financial Reporting, Financial Accountability, Universal Primary Education Capitation Grant.