Budgeting and strategy in schools: The elusive link

Edwards, Pam, Ezzamel, Mahmoud ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3673-8440, McLean, Christine and Robson, Keith 2001. Budgeting and strategy in schools: The elusive link. Financial Accountability and Management 16 (4) , pp. 309-334. 10.1111/1468-0408.00110

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Abstract

This paper examines the effects upon management control in schools following the assumption of responsibility for delegated budgets required by the Education Reform Act (ERA) 1988. The paper examines the process of construction, approval and amendment of school budgets drawing on a neo-institutionalist framework. Our investigation has drawn upon extensive interviews in 17 schools in three North West local authorities, supplemented by a postal questionnaire and inspection of relevant documents. We develop two main arguments. First, in order to satisfy their statutory duties LEAs supervised the introduction of internal systems of budgetary control and school development planning in schools. Thus, control procedures were largely designed by internal auditors, who sought to provide an audit trail and to ensure financial probity mainly to satisfy external legitimacy, rather than to influence internal decision-making. Second, the specific nature of the relationship between budgeting and strategy varies between schools as the extent of formalised planning differs, but in general there is a very loose coupling between strategic objectives and budget expenditures.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance L Education > L Education (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	LMS; school development plan; budgeting
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:	0267-4424
Last Modified:	25 Oct 2022 08:17
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/52142

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