FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND AUDITING AS PREDICTORS OF QUALITY EDUCATION DELIVERY IN FEDERAL POLYTECHNICS IN SOUTH- EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined financial accountability and auditing as predictors of quality 
education delivery in Federal Polytechnics in South-East Nigeria. The study was 
guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses, which were tested at 
0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational survey research 
design. The population was 216 principal officers, Deans and Heads of 
Departments. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 3 states from 
the 5 states in South-East, Nigeria. The sample size of 170 respondents was used 
from the three Federal Polytechnics in the three states drawn. Data was collected 
using researcher-developed questionnaires: Financial Accountability and 
Auditing Questionnaire (FAAQ) and Quality Education Delivery Questionnaire 
(QEDQ). The two instruments were face validated by three experts. Cronbach 
Alpha method was used to determine the internal consistencies of the instruments. 
The overall reliability coefficient obtained for FAAQ was 0.90 while the 
reliability coefficient for QEDQ was 0.95. Data collected were analyzed using 
linear regression to answer research questions. Null hypotheses were tested using 
the t-test associated with linear regression at 0.05 level of significance. The 
findings of the study showed that financial accountability has no significant 
predictive power on quality education delivery. Also, financial auditing 
significantly predicts quality education delivery in Federal Polytechnics in South
East, Nigeria. Recommendations were made which include among others that 
financial managers of the Federal Polytechnics should evaluate and monitor all 
those involved in managing financial resources to foster accountability and 
ensuring quality education delivery in Federal Polytechnics in South-East, 
Nigeria.