Assessment of financial control practices in public hospitals in Kenya. A case of Narok District Hospital

Abstract

Many Hospitals are saddled with financial problems. These relates to general report of misappropriation of funds by head of Hospitals, accountant or clerks which is affecting the development of hospitals in Kenya. Therefore the study aimed to establish financial control practice in public hospital in relation to the following objectives: Ascertain the sources and uses of funds in Narok District Hospitals, examine the financial control available for checking or controlling the disbursement of funds, determine the financial management challenges confronting the management of the Hospital, suggest way of improving the financial control practices in Kenya Hospital. The study brought to light financial control practices in the management of finance of Kenya Hospitals and suggested ways of improving them. The study employed descriptive research design and the target population of the study consisted of the Medical superintendent, Assistant Medical superintendent, Accountant, Clerk /Accountant , medical Staff and subordinate staff totaling one hundred and twenty (120) respondent. The study Used purposive sampling and forty two (42) respondent were selected. The study used both Primary and Secondary data. The researcher used interview and questionnaire as the methods for Primary sources of data collection. The data was presented by means of simple information by the use of tables and bar charts by the help of a special computer package called Microsoft Excel. The survey revealed two main sources of funds for the Hospital, the government of Kenya budget line account and internally generated funds. The revenue and expenditure trend for the hospital shows that expenditure exceeds revenue due to regular changes in price levels. The Hospital has put in place effective control practices such that financial transactions were backed by supporting documents. It is recommended that, there should be periodic in-service training for the account personnel to improve knowledge, skills and abilities of financial control mechanisms.