Budgets and Budgetary Control as a Management Tool for Ghana Metropolitan Assemblies

Abstract

The study examined the budgeting and budgetary control as a management tool in Ghanaian Metropolitan Assemblies with the view to find out the importance attached by metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in Ghana to how budgets are prepared and implemented, benefits and problems associated with budgeting and the extent at which budget variance reports are used as a performance measure. The survey instrument was questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16) software was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that, metropolitan assemblies prepare budgets and plans to guide their activities and operations and that there is generally a high level of budget participation. The major conclusion was that metropolitan assemblies use a rigorous budgetary control practices in its operations and attaches much importance to budgets and budgetary control as vital tool to aid them in effective and efficient management of their operations. It is recommended, among other things, that appropriate measures should be put in place to enable all the assemblies in Ghana prepare plans and budgets since the practices lead to effective utilization of state resources.