Determinants of Successful Implementation of Integrated Financial Management Systems by County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, County public finance management operations have largely remained manual, contrary to the public finance management act section 12(I) of 2012.The failure to adapt and fully implement IFMIS constraints transparency in financial reporting and management in county governments as envisaged by Article 226 of the Kenyan constitution. The objective of this study was to assess the determinants of successful implementation of integrated financial management systems by county governments in Kenya. This study used a descriptive research approach and all the 47 counties in Kenya formed the population of the study. Data was collected from the heads of treasury in the 47 counties. The study utilized data that was both secondary and primary where primary data was collected by use of a questionnaire that was semi structured while secondary data was obtained from the national treasury records to give an indicator of effectiveness in county governments fund usage with regard to accountability and audits. The analysis of data was accomplished through the use of descriptive statistics, regression and correlation analysis. Descriptive entailed the mean and standard deviations while correlation and regression analysis were used as inferential statistics to come up with conclusion on the relationship between the variables. The study found that top management commitment had a significant and positive relationship with the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems. However, the results established that there was a negative and insignificant relationship between human capital capacity, change management and IFMIS implementation. The results also found that the relationship between IT infrastructure and IFMIS implementation by county governments was positive and insignificant. The study concluded that IFMIS implementation is significantly and majorly influenced by top management commitment. The study recommended that the administration of county governments should support the implementation of IFMIS in county governments.