The Management of Finances by School Governing Bodies

This paper focuses on the management of finances by School Governing Bodies (SGB). The South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 provides for the establishment of SGB entrusted with the management of school funds. The research was a multi-site case study of the Vhembe district. Purposive sampling of the schools was conducted. Semi-structured interviews, observations and document analyses were carried out. The findings suggest that the finance personnel and committees at school level were not well-established or trained, and thus became dysfunctional. The researchers recommend that finance policies be amended, finance committees be trained, and continuous monitoring of finances be provided by circuit and district officials. The paper outlines a number of limitations to the study which include difficulties in understanding financial terminology by some participants, as well as a fear of handing in financial documents for examination by researchers.