Assessment of the Contribution of Financial Accountability on the Performance of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania: Case of Newala Town Council

Daudi, Israel Mpalamba (2017) Assessment of the Contribution of Financial Accountability on the Performance of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania: Case of Newala Town Council. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study investigated the contribution of financial accountability on the performance of local government authorities in Tanzania by using the case study of Newala Town Council. The study applied both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sample size includes 68 respondents and the author applied SPSS to analyze the quantitative data. Findings from the study show that financial accountability has a significant impact on the performance of local government authorities. The results shows that financial accountability has helped the council in attaining trust to funders and donors hence accomplish projects on time. Moreover according to their views financial accountability has established value for money through the services delivery to the community. The results shows that the strategies which helped Newala Town Council to implement financial accountability for better performance of the council include segregation of powers, proper utilization of financial documents, pre auditing, monthly bank reconciliation and physical control of hard cash by putting cash and cash equivalents into the strong room of the council Although the Newala Town Council is implementing financial accountability there are still some challenges including: shortages of staff to enable segregation of duties, lack of guidelines and inadequate finance to enable the running of financial control properly. Therefore in order to implement these strategies effectively it’s advised to address these challenges through different ways. But the government support is very important in order to improve service delivery at the council. Other mechanisms may include adoption and proper supervision of point of sales system (POS), Epicor, establishment of management information system (MIS), adopt Homis and Lowson programs.

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