BUDGETING AND BUDGET PERFORMANCE EVALUATION (IN CASE OF SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL- ETHIOPIA COUNTRY OFFICE

Abstract

In this research the researcher study budgeting and budget Performance evaluation in case of Save The Children International Ethiopia Country Office. In this research the researcher used quantitative research Approach with descriptive research type. Stratified sampling technique used and in those strata, the researcher use a random sampling techniques to select the needed samples. The study population is Save The Children International Ethiopia Country Office staffs within three strata’s (i.e. budgeting unit team are 7 (seven), reporting unit are 8(Eight), and selected program team members were 142(One hundred forty-two), among those the researcher selected 119 participants for this study and distribute a pre-designed questioner and gets 101 complete questioners. The collected data is analyzed by using SPSS V.20 and the study results are presented by using tables. From the analysis result I have found that and the findings also imply that in relevance to budgetary preparation in Save The Children International Ethiopia Country Office; the budget preparation process starts by identifying the donor compliance requirements and always the budgeting process follows the donor requirement and template used for budgeting of each specific awards; Save The Children International Ethiopia Country Office internal requirements as well as Charity and Society Agency 70/30 and other country rules; but when we come to the staff participation/Involvement there limited staff participation. During implementation if there is a need for change to consider the existing context and there is also experience of doing an amendment. During budget implementation in Save The Children International Ethiopia; budget is affected by matching plan, inadequate funds allocation to various units which leads over/ under utilization; deferent budgeting guidelines of donors; late start of projects, late signing of Memorandum of understanding with local government, non-participatory budget preparation, delay in recording of actual expenditure in the financial system, unrealistic program detail implementation plan and the major Source of Variance between budget and actual in Save The Children includes delay in recording the actual expenditure in the financial system, knowledge of project staffs in preparing the detail implementation plan which includes the budget, Lack of appropriate match plan, over estimation of the budgeting figures. It is recommended that the Save The Children Ethiopia Country office champion the course of the budgeting information dissemination down to the project units, follow the existing standard in the organization during budget development and implementation, allocate sufficient funds to projects, provide training on the application of donors budgeting guidelines and on preparation of program detail implementation plan, increase the number of budget unit, ensuring budget availability before any payment/ activity, and allocating adequate number of professionals on preparation of plan and budget for a new award.