Teacher-Bursars’ Competencies in School Finance Management: Evidence from Malawi

Abstract

This paper examines the competencies of teacher-bursars in managing school finances, amid growing concerns about their ability to adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Guided by systems theory, this study employed mixed methods approach however it settled for explanatory sequential method. The study simple-randomly sampled 91 schools – accounting for 69 head teachers and 65 teacher-bursars. Again, it purposively sampled 3 divisional management officers for categorical data. The study found that over 50% of teacher-bursars lacked financial management skills, and 83% of head teachers reported they failed to account for allocated funds. Management collaborated with these results while emphasizing that financial statements produced by teacher-bursars did not give a true and fair view of school’s financial position. Statistical analysis revealed that trained teacher-bursars (M = 0.8188) significantly outperformed their untrained counterparts (M = 0.595), t (62) = 5.306, p < .05, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The mean difference [(M diff=0.2698)] indicates that training in GAAP accounts for a 27-percentage-point improvement in financial management competency scores. Thus, these results informed the development of Financial Management in School (FIMASO) framework to strengthen financial accounting proficiency and GAAP compliance in schools. This framework aligns with fiscal policies aimed at steering socioeconomic development agendas of wider communities and beyond.  The study recommends targeted GAAP training to enhance competencies of teacher-bursars.