Browsing by Author "Maina, Mumbi Susan"

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    Internal Audit Function and Financial Accountability of Laikipia County Government, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-03) Maina, Mumbi Susan
    Governments worldwide face increasing pressure to strengthen financial accountability, optimize resource allocation, and enhance public service delivery.The prevalence of corruption particularly in the African region, has reignited the urgency for financial accountability and responsible stewardship. As a result, there is a growing global emphasis on ensuring financial accountability and the efficient use of public funds. The Auditor General reports consistently highlight significant challenges facing county governments in Kenya on financial resource management and accountability. Amongst the issues pointed out include inadequacy of financial support documentation, posting errors, over-expenditures and under-expenditures, consequently affecting the ability of county governments to deliver effective services to its citizens. Like many other organizations, Laikipia County Government has encountered challenges in overseeing its financial affairs and ensuring transparent utilization of public funds. This research sought to assess the effect of internal audit function on financial accountability in the county government of Laikipia, Kenya. The variables under examination included management support, professional competency, independence, and internal audit standards. The research was anchored on agency, stewardship, and stakeholder theory. The target population was 105 employees working in the finance and economic planning department of Laikipia County. From this population, a sample size of 51 employees was selected through stratified sampling. Data was collected through a uniform questionnaire. A representative sample of 10 respondents, mirroring the roles of those in the actual study, was randomly selected for a pilot study in Nyandarua County Government. Data was gathered, sorted, coded, and entered on SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was applied to provide a summary of the data using mean as well as standard deviation metrics. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were employed to explore relationships and provide insights into the variables. The outcomes were presented using tables and charts. Out of 51 distributed questionnaires only 48 were duly filled and qualified to be analyzed. The questionnaire was found to be reliable, and the data was normally distributed and homogeneous, with no intercorrelation between the variables under study. The model adopted in the study was confirmed significant using ANOVA. The research findings indicated a positive and statistically significant relationship between professional competence and financial accountability in the Laikipia County Government. Additionally, the study found that the independence of the audit function was a positive and significant predictor of financial accountability. Management support was also identified as positively and significantly influencing financial accountability within the Laikipia County Government. Furthermore, adherence to internal audit standards had a positive and significant impact on financial accountability in the Laikipia County Government. The research recommends that policymakers should: enhance the independence of the audit function in Laikipia County Government by structurally separating the internal audit section from the Finance and Economic Planning department to strengthen its oversight capacity; address understaffing in the internal audit section by recruiting qualified personnel to improve audit coverage and effectiveness; increase the funding allocated to support audit operations and acquire necessary equipment; implement measures to manage conflicts of interest, minimize management interference, and ensure adherence to auditing standards. To enhance effective financial accountability in the public sector, future research should examine factors influencing internal audit effectiveness.
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    Stakeholder Management and Project Performance of Open Air Market Projects in Nyeri County, Kenya.
    (Kenyatta University, 2018-10) Maina, Mumbi Susan
    Project performance is evaluated differently by various stakeholders of the project based on their expectations in relation to the actual quality; cost and time. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of stakeholder management on project performance with the specific objectives being: to determine the influence of stakeholder need and expectation identification; communication; conflict management and stakeholder participation on project performance. The research adopted both descriptive and exploratory research design. The target population was all the Open air upgrading projects in Nyeri County. Sample selection was done through cluster sampling where the target population was divided according to the six (6) major Open air markets in each constituency in Nyeri County. The clusters were set to represent various project stakeholders namely: project managers, vendors, general public, project staffs and the local authorities. Data was collected using questionnaires. The content of the questions was the same to enhance analysis and a response rate of 83.5% was recorded. The researcher ran the data through the SPSS to obtain the descriptive statistics such as the mean, mode, frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study were presented using charts, graphs and tables. The results of the study established that the coefficients of “stakeholder’s need and expectation identification”, “communication”, “conflict management” and “stakeholder participation” were positive and significant and thus these factors determine project performance. Stakeholders’ participation positively enhances project performance of Open air Market project to a great extent followed by stakeholders’ needs and expectation identification, conflict management and finally communication. It was recommended that stakeholder participation is critical and hence the government must ensure the aspect of stakeholder involvement is adequately covered during the feasibility study of the intervention. To boost transparency and accountability of the project management the study recommends that the channels, format, frequency and responsibility of sharing of the progress report to the stakeholders be well defined during the conception stages of the intervention. The study further recommends that project management must change their reactive approach on occurrence of conflict but rather adopt a proactive approach in determining the highly susceptible issues and identify possible solution. To provide a clear picture of performance of Open air upgrading projects in the country the researcher recommends that more assessment of influence of stakeholder management on performance of Open Air upgrading projects in other counties in Kenya.