Influence of Adoption of Budgetary Practices by Boards of Management on Governance of Early Years Education Centres in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kenya

The adoption of budgetary practices in early years education centres (EYE) in Kenya involves planning and managing financial resources to align with educational goals. The objective of this study was to bridge the governance gap by establishing the influence of the adoption of budgetary practices by the board of management on the governance of early years education centres in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kisumu County, Kenya. The study was anchored on External Reporting Theory by Akintoye (2012). The theory demonstrates a range of financial reporting practices that management board members of different early years education (EYE) centres can adopt to attain good governance. The study adopted a concurrent triangulation design. Both stratified and simple random sampling were used to obtain 11 public and 78 private EYE centres. The respondents constituted two teachers per EYE centre, of which one was the Centre manager and another the class teacher, giving a total of 178 respondents. The questionnaires were used to obtain data from the class teachers, while interview schedules were used to obtain data from the Centre managers. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study findings revealed that in most EYE centres, there was a lack of adequate accountability, transparency, stakeholder involvement, and funds were not being used for the intended purpose. The study concluded that the adoption of budgetary practices by the board of management significantly affects governance in early years education (EYE) centres in Kenya. The study recommended that the EYE centres’ management boards should ensure adequate accountability and transparency on all financial expenditures for programs in the early years education (EYE) centres. The study further recommended that the boards of management should involve all the stakeholders in budget planning, control, and implementation.