POLICY ON COUNTY GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS :- ACASE OF TRANS - NZOIA COUNTY

Since the inception of county governments in 2013, there have been frequent reports on the loss of funds by the Government Auditor General. Many of the county governments are incapacitated in paying the contractors and suppliers hence leading to many of them being prosecuted for not honoring their financial obligations. At the adoption of county governance structure in Kenya, the fundamental objective was to manage the county resources with the aim of reaching the citizens for projects development. This is why the World Bank and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) sponsored the study in the Counties of Makueni, Kajiado, Nakuru, Baringo, Kakamega and West Pokot. The main purpose of devolution was that development was to be decentralized for the common citizen to realize physical development. The purpose of the study was to investigate the function of the county government policy on financial management systems. The objectives of the study were; determine the financial auditing process on county government expenditure, establish if the financial management procedures are adhered to and establish the adequacy of staff that undertakes financial management in the county government. The researcher used descriptive research method and employed descriptive research design. The researcher applied purposive and convenience sampling techniques to collect the data from the respondents. The target population was 600 people whose sample size was 200 respondents, the researcher used questionnaires and interview schedules to collect information from the respondents after conducting a pilot study on five respondents in the study field. The data was analyst descriptively which provided in-depth information for the study in relationship with the objectives of the study. The analysis of the study was done by the computer through the process of SPSS. The conclusion was that the county government was to involve the stakeholders in policy formulation and implementation on the utilization of the county government funds. The study recommends that the professionals be employed to handle matters that concern the management of county resources under the control of the internal auditors.