Critical Analysis of Budgetary Control Its Effectiveness and Efficiency in a Nonprofit Making Organization
Chapter One
Research Objective
- To examine the effect of budgetary planning on efficiency of NCRI
- To examine the effect of budgetary monitoring and control on efficiency of NCRI
- To examine the effect of participative budgeting on efficiency
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
BRIEF ABOUT NATIONAL CEREALS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, BADEGGI
The National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) Badeggi is one of the fifteen (15) commodities Agricultural Research Institute in Nigeria under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Institute was established by an Agricultural Research order of 1975 but has a long history dating back to 1898 when the first precursor of Department of Agriculture was established by the then British Colonial Administration as an observatory Botanical Garden in Lagos. The Department later metamorphosed in to the Federal Department of Agricultural Research, Moor plantation in 1954 and charged with the responsibility of conducting research on all agricultural crops and farming practices through out the Country.
The 1975 Agricultural Research Institutes order limited the research mandate of the Institute to the problems of rice, maize, grain legumes and sugarcane as well as those of farming systems throughout Nigeria.
The Headquarters of the institute remained at moor plantation, Ibadan until December 1984 when it was moved to the Institute Rice Research Station, Badeggi which is now the Headquarters.
The re-organization of the Nigeria Research Institute in 1987 further changed the mandate of the Institute as well as its areas of coverage consequently, NCRI was charged with national mandate for the genetic improvement of Rice, Sugarcane, Soybean, Acha, Beniseed, and Castor throughout the country as well as Farming Systems Research and Extension in all ramifications of Agriculture within the Central Zone consisting of Nassarawa, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Benue States and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
NCRI research activities are carried out both in the Headquarters and the ten (10) Outstations located in different parts of of the country viz: Ibadan (Oyo State), Warri (Delta State), Amakama-Olokoro (Abia State), Uyo (Akwa-Ibom State), Bacita (Kwara State), Mokwa (Niger State), Birnin-Kebbi (kebbi State), Numan (Adamawa State), Yandev (Benue State) and Riyom (Plateau State) in close collaboration with both National and International Agricultural Research Institutes, Non-governmental Organization and Private Organizations.
On-farm Adaptive trials are conducted multi locationally to ensure that results are adoptable in the different ecologies in the country.
It is also the Zonal Coordinating Research Institute for Research Extension –Farmer-Input-Linkage- System (REFILS) of the North Central Zone.
ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP
National Cereals Research Institute is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development being supervised by Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), through which it is funded and coordinated respectively. It is governed by the Governing Board but Administratively headed by an Executive Director and structured into:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study adopted a descriptive research design. Churchill (1991) noted that descriptive study can be used when the purpose is to describe the characteristics of certain items, estimate proportions of people who behave in certain ways and make specific predictions exploratory in nature.
According to Schindler (2003), a descriptive research design is appropriate where the study seeks to describe the characteristics of certain groups, estimate the proportion of people who have certain characteristics and make predictions. Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), describes descriptive research design as a systematic, empirical inquiry into which the researcher does not have a direct control of the independent variables as their manifestation has already occurred or because the independent variable cannot inherently be manipulated.
Target Population
Target population in statistics is the specific population about which information is desired. According to Ngechu (2004), a population is a well-defined or set of people, services, elements, and events, group of things or households that are being investigated. The study targeted 8 departments in NCRI for the period 2010-2014.
The respondents for the target population consisted of 8 NCRI chairmen one from each department, 8 NCRI secretaries one from each department and 8 NCRI fund managers one from each department.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATIONS AND PRESENTATION
Respondents background information
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings and Interpretation
The study investigated the relationship between budgetary planning and efficiency of NCRI in Badeggi. The research findings revealed that poor planning management of NCRI has led to poor efficiency of National Cereals Research Institute projects. The budget plans of National Cereals Research Institute must be properly coordinated in order to eliminate bottlenecks. When planning, outcomes, goals and objectives are linked to programs and organizational activities. A predetermined budget of possible costs that is incurred carrying out the activities planned in a NCRI project should be made, an efficient and proper system of accounting should be established so that the information required for the proper implementation for the budgetary planning can be available on time. During budgetary planning, a proper organisational chart should be prepared properly, clearly depicting the responsibilities and duties of each level of executive.
On the effect of monitoring and control on efficiency of NCRI, the research revealed that the departments fund committee is responsible for monitoring of an on-going project. Monitoring assists in taking corrective action in case of an error in implementation of the NCRI project and helps in the proper planning of subsequent phases of the project from the time it has been monitored. The fund committee always takes timely corrective actions when adverse variances are reported, the department has budget policies that monitors budget spending, the National Cereals Research Institute projects being implemented under the fund are subjected to monitoring on a regular basis. The fund committee holds budget conferences and meetings regularly to review efficiency.
Further the study it was established that effective monitoring of budget efficiency requires that managers are provided with relevant, timely and accurate information appropriate to their level of responsibility.
The study investigated the effect of participative budgeting on efficiency of NCRI, the research revealed that the departments budget deviations are reported to budget committees, budgets motivate committee to achieve objectives and thereby establish control in the departments. As the budgetary control increases, budgetary participation of committee also increases, the departments execute their projects within the stipulated deadline, budgetary controls in the departments assist management assess the level of efficiency, where budgetary control is high, there is a meaningful positive relation between efficiency and budgetary participation budget application in the departments that includes budgetary control have no direct effect on efficiency.
On the relationship between budget analysis and efficiency of NCRI, the study revealed that most of the department has budget policies that monitors budget spending, the management team reviews regularly the implementation of budgetary control measures in the department, the organization’s budget efficiency evaluation reports are prepared frequently, control of the budget activities is done by the departmental heads, managers always take timely corrective actions when adverse variances are reported.
The study established there needs to be policies and regulations that must be followed to urgently mitigate the acts of mismanagement like lack of compromised procurement processes to improve efficiency of National Cereals Research Institute, lack of local institute involvement and technical expert from government departments in National Cereals Research Institute allocation affects efficiency, poor governance and political interference have negative effects on efficiency of National Cereals Research Institute, lack of capacity building sessions and entrepreneurial practices in the NCRI funded projects procurement negatively affects efficiency of National Cereals Research Institute. the research also established that budget preparation enables the government to plan and manage if financial resources to supports and implement various programs and projects for development, cash-flow budget records allows an organization to make informed decisions when planning additional expenditure and that budget preparation enables the organisation to save for expected and unexpected emergency costs.
Conclusions
The research established that proper planning of budgets have the potential to help organizations reach their goals and reduces role ambiguity. The study also found that a unit increase in budget planning would enhance the efficiency of NCRI project. Therefore, the research concludes proper planning of budgets had appositive impact on efficiency of NCRI projects.
The research revealed that ensuring proper monitoring and control of budgets helps to translate strategic plans into action, monitoring and control of budgets helps provide an excellent record of organizational activities, monitoring and control of budgets helps improve resources allocation, because all requests are clarified and justified and that monitoring and control of budgets helps provide a tool for corrective action through reallocations. Therefore, the research concludes proper monitoring and control of budgets had appositive impact on efficiency of NCRI projects.
The study revealed that participative budgeting process improves information flow, budgetary participation allows superiors to obtain relevant information from subordinates, creates a bond of trust between public and NCRI board, helps to ensure priority is given to vulnerable areas thus ensuring allocative efficiency. The research concludes ensuring participative budgeting process had appositive impact on efficiency of NCRI projects.
The research established that budget analysis helped to determine whether NCRI board have allocated sufficient financial resources to fulfill their targets and commitments. The research concludes that budget analysis had a positive impact on efficiency of NCRI projects.
Recommendations
Based on the findings, the study recommends that the NCRI board need to fully engage the societies in budgetary preparation process. This will enable the research institute to effectively plan and manage its financial resources and supports and implement various programs and projects for development based on priority. The board tasked with the management of NCRI needs to periodically carry out budget review. This will help to identify and make corrections on overspending or modification to the budget if needed. The board tasked with the management of NCRI should pay greater attention on budgetary monitoring process as this will ensure that sufficient funds are allocated to every program thus avoiding project dreadlocks. The board tasked with the management of NCRI need to have an efficient and proper system of accounting so that the information required for the proper implementation for the budgetary control can be available on time.
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