Budgeting and financial accountability in public sector organisations in Uganda: a case study of Uganda Revenue Authority

Abstract

The study examined the influence of budgeting on financial accountability in public sector organisations using Uganda Revenue Authority as a case study. It was guided by three objectives i) To examine the influence of capital expenditure variance on financial accountability in the Uganda Revenue Authority, ii) To assess the influence of operating expenditure variance on financial accountability in the Uganda Revenue Authority, iii) To establish the influence of human resource variance on financial accountability in the Uganda Revenue Authority. The study adopted a phenomenological design divided in section of research approach, research strategy, research duration and the research classification. The study population was 69 and a sample size of 58 respondents participated. It is also shown that the Adjusted R square is .607 which is an indication that 60.7% of the changes that do occur in financial accountability are due to changes in budgeting. The test also revealed that budgeting has a positive relationship with financial accountability and as such the null hypothesis was rejected. In conclusion, the role of budgeting that makes an organization attain its goal should be effective by having active support for budgeting process from the top management, clear stated budgeting and forecasting standards. It was also concluded that budgeting promotes common understanding concerning objectives and makes the acceptance of organizational goals by the individual much more likely. The study recommends that the study suggests that effective budget implementation at the company level should be facilitated through capacity building, robust systems and processes, prioritizations close monitoring and evaluation. All stakeholders should get involved in budget execution in enhancing the overall budget implementation.