Factors affecting effective implementation of intergrated financial management information systems (IFMIS) in government ministries in Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya Government has implemented the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) since the year 2005 as its sole accounting system. The reason why the Kenya Government adopted the use of this system was as a result of the numerous benefits envisaged from its effective use. However, for now over five years of implementation, this system has still not been able to fully provide the expected benefits of integrated financial planning, implementation and control of public expenditure. This research project has tried to investigate the factors have influenced slow implementation of the system. In particular, the researcher sought to establish through hypothesis testing, the major factors that have hampered effective implementation of the Integrated Financial Management Information System in Kenya public sector. The study covered 42 Ministries where a sample of 30 respondents involved in the use of the Integrated Financial Management Information System was surveyed and data collected using a questionnaire. In this study, four factors studied, that influence effective use of the IFIMIS system were Staff resistance, Management commitment, System complexity and Capacity and skills of users. To analyze the influence of selected factors on the use of the system, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The arithmetic mean was used to analyze the user opinions on the select factors and the effective use of the system. The significance of the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable was achieved through testing four hypotheses tested at 5% significance level. The study established that effective use of the system is affected largely by sabotage and resistance. The study also established that management support is lacking and top management does not inspire the user. The capacity and technical knowhow was found to be low due to lack of training and the hurried implementation of the system. The study recommended that the Government employs a change agent to oversee the implementation of the IFMIS system and those users of the system to undergo on the job training in order to improve their skills and capabilities to use the system.