Effect of Internal Control Systems on Financial Performance of Public Universities in Kenya

Most public Universities across the world have reported suboptimal financial performance compared to private universities. The poor can be attributed management practices. sound practices require institutions robust internal control systems. However, there are limited empirical research findings regarding relationship between systems and in universities Kenya. general objective of study was establish effect on specific investigate detective controls anchored agency theory, stewardship theory attribution theory. adopted a causal design. target population respondents were deputy vice chancellors finance, registrar finance administration, ICT personnel, officers auditors 37 185 respondents. worked with sample 34 through stratified random sampling, other three used for pilot testing. Primary data collected from using semi-structured questionnaires. Secondary evaluation reports, organizational journals, publications review information organizations website. Quantitative analyzed Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS). All questionnaires received referenced items questionnaire coded facilitate entry. After cleaning which entailed checking errors entry, descriptive statistics frequencies estimated all variables presented inform tables, graphs pie charts. Descriptive inferential because they enabled researcher meaningfully describe distribution scores or measurements few indices. Inferential analysis done Pearson Correlation coefficient regression analysis. Regression conducted empirically determine whether significant determining results indicated goodness fit strong. From model, constant zero, would 3.132. It established that unit increase cause an improvement by factor 0.237. This clearly showed positive performance. P-value less than 0.05, covered statistically influence concluded had Keywords: Internal Systems, Detective Controls, Financial Performance DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/12-16-09 Publication date: August 31 st 2021