Investigation of cost control practices at the Kenya Utalii College

Abstract

The study investigated cost control practices at the Kenya Utalii College (KUC). The main objective of the study was to identify the cost control practices at KUC and the challenges facing cost control practices at KUC. The construction of Kenya Utalii College through assistance from the Swiss government begun in 1973 and training commenced at the campus in 1975. KUC is a hospitality training college. The college has so far trained over 30,000 students in both full time and in-service programmes. The KUC derives its mandate from the Hotels and Restaurant Act read together with legal note no. 317 of 1987 as amended by legal notice no. 147 of 2002 and the State Corporation Act. KUC's aim is to train and develop a human resource base for the hospitality industry. Cost control helps to promote operational efficiency by ensuring that the resources of the establishment are put to their proper use. All forms of wastage and misuse of the establishment's resources must be properly controlled to ensure. that the objectives are achieved most effectively and efficiently and encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policy. Control assists in implementing the management policies by establishing the controls necessary for the implementation of such policies. The study adopted personal interview to collect the data which was recorded by writing the responses. The study identified the cost control practices at KUC and the challenges facing cost control practices at KUC. The collected data was analysed and interpreted in line with this objective using content analysis. This involves the analysis of meanings and implications emanating from respondents' information coupled with documented data regarding strategy implementation. The study found out that the Kenya Utalii College adopts various cost control practice such as following the procurement procedures as laid down by the government, verifies the quality, quantity and price of products during receiving time, ensures that no item is removed out of the stores without an authorized requisition and maintaining proper quality of products in the stores. The study also gave recommendations for further study and poli.cy practice in KUC. Recommendations for further study include: The need for a study to be carried out on the effectiveness of the budgeting process of KUC in order to establish whether the budget drawn is realistic and meets all the necessary requirements.