Financial Control Functions and Financial Accountability in Nairobi City County Government, Kenya.

Abstract

Financial accountability for public resources is highly pertinent within any public organization. It involves accurately recording, reporting, and using financial resources, enabling stakeholders, including citizens, regulatory bodies, and government officials, to monitor and evaluate how public funds are managed. This level of scrutiny helps prevent misuse and misallocation of resources, promotes efficiency, and fosters trust between the government and the public. There is little understanding as to why there is continuous misuse of public resources, yet a set-up standard exists for financial control. The link between financial control functions and financial accountability has received little attention, even though several studies have examined different institutional processes and performance elements. The primary goal of the research was to assess the financial control functions in Nairobi City County, Kenya, and financial accountability. The exact goals and objectives of the research were to assess Nairobi City County’s legislative budgetary control role and its effect on financial accountability, ascertain the Auditor General’s control role and its effect on Nairobi City County’s financial accountability, investigate the effect of parliamentary oversight control role on financial accountability in Nairobi City and evaluate the Commission of Revenue Allocation control role and its effect on Nairobi City County’s Financial accountability. The study was founded on agency theory as the main theory supported by stewardship, accounting, and new public financial management theory, as the foundation for the study. A case study descriptive survey research approach was used in the study, with 425 delegates of the Nairobi County Government as the population target. The study adopted the Krejcie and Morgan formula approach, selecting 201 respondents as the sample size. Ten percent of the research sample was given to senior county government officials for conducting a pilot study; they were not part of the main study. In addition, structured questionnaires were used in the data collection process. Relatively, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 24) was used to analyze the data for the study's descriptive (percentages, means, and frequencies) and inferential (multiple regression analysis and correlation) statistics. The study used tables to make the analysis results/ output more readable and comprehensible. The study discovered that every financial control function had a significant effect on the county government of Nairobi City’s financial accountability (legislative budget and control, (β = 0.077 at p<0.05), the Commission of Revenue allocation control function (β = 0.198 (0.066) at p<0.05), parliamentary oversight control role (β = 0.0.157 at p<0.05), and auditor general control function (β = 0.279 at p<0.05). The recommendations from the study include the need for the county of Nairobi to adopt robust measures to strengthen the legislative budget and control function. The study also recommended that it was imperative to accord the auditor and general function top priority to guarantee regulatory compliance. The study also recommended that the county start parliamentary oversight functions with little political sway. Lastly, the study recommended that the country appropriately set up the Commission of Revenue and Control Function to oversee the financial expenditure and accountability of the county's government.