A performance-based system that had been implemented in private sectors was introduced into public sectors in developed countries today; in particular, stress is laid on accountability for performance in the financial field dealing with national taxes...
A performance-based system that had been implemented in private sectors was introduced into public sectors in developed countries today; in particular, stress is laid on accountability for performance in the financial field dealing with national taxes. The business-based budgeting system reflects such a performance-based system, and accrual basis & double-entry bookkeeping accounting is the budgeting accounting technique to operate the usiness-based budgeting system.
Although education can hardly show its performance visually, contrary to other areas, a business-based budgeting system was introduced as in other public sectors according to the obligation to provide educational performance desired by consumers.
Edufine is a computing infrastructure to realize it in education. In other words, Edufine is a means introduced for a successful financial reform. However, as successful settlement of computerization today exerts enormous effects on success in a new system, successful use of Edufine in unit schools is most of all important.
But even before its overall introduction, some teachers were much concerned about the possible increase in their duties due to the introduction of Edufine. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze perception of Edufine to see differences between administrative employees and teachers.
So the purpose of this study is to analyze perception of the Edufine school accounting system by occupation types at model schools before its overall introduction to those schools by 2010 in order to see users' satisfaction, perception of business efficiency, and perception of its effects by occupation types due to the introduction of Edufine and search for an improvement scheme necessary to settle the Edufine system successfully in the future.
For this purpose, the following questions were set:
1. What is user satisfaction with the introduction of Edufine by occupation types?
2. How is business efficiency perceived with the introduction of Edufine by occupation types?
3. How are effects of the introduction of Edufine perceived by occupation types?
4. What is an improvement scheme to settle Edufine successfully?
To answer these questions, a survey was conducted with a total of 364 persons―94 administrative employees and 270 teachers―at 27 model schools (19 public, 8 private) designated by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education for the Edufine School Accounting System. Of them, 270 questionnaires were returned and analyzed; and the statistical data went through chi-square using an SPSS 12.0 program.
The results of this study can be summarized as follows:
First, there was no significant difference in user satisfaction with the introduction of Edufine between occupation types in terms of users' easiness with menu composition and rapidity in solving problems, while there were significant differences between occupation types in terms of convenience, accuracy in solving problems, and sufficiency in education and training. Administrative employees showed more negative perception of accuracy in solving problems than teachers; and the latter showed more negative perception of sufficiency in education and training than the former.
Second, there was no significant difference in perception of business efficiency with the introduction of Edufine between occupation types in terms of contributions to improvement in business competency, users' easiness with information acquisition, and information processing capability of the system, while there were significant differences in terms of rapidity in business management and reduction in duties. While both administrative employees and teachers negatively perceived rapidity in business management and reduction in duties, the former showed more negative perception.
Third, there was no significant difference in effects of the introduction of Edufine between occupation types in terms of expansion of teachers' interest and participation in budgeting, the increase in business managers' accountability, and the increase in business managers' autonomy of budgeting, while there were significant differences in terms of easiness with grasping business performance and security of transparency in school finance. While both administrative employees and teachers positively perceived easiness with grasping business performance and security of transparency in school finance, the latter showed more positive perception.
Fourth, as for improvement schemes most necessary to settle Edufine successfully, administrative employees suggested personal training through a process of training and teachers suggested personal training based on unit schools as the most helpful type of training; as for the most important effect of the introduction of Edufine in relation to businesses concerned, both of them suggested improvement in transparency and reliability in businesses. As for the most important improvement scheme to increase business efficiency by using Edufine, both administrative employees and teachers suggested integration of dual approvals based on e-documents and Edufine into a single approval, followed by precise division of duties between the administrative room and the teachers' room; as for the most important improvement scheme to increase user satisfaction with Edufine, both of them suggested screen composition convenient to use and systematic menus. Lastly, as for the most necessary thing to settle Edufine successfully in unit schools, both administrative employees and teachers suggested the expansion of opportunities for various types of training concerning how to use the system and business management procedures.
From this study, the following suggestions could be drawn:
First, as both administrative employees and teachers showed low user satisfaction with the introduction of Edufine, it is necessary to make the screen of Edufine convenient to use in order to allow users to access the system easily and manufacture systematic menus.
As many of the staff had difficulty in using Edufine due to lack of opportunities to get training, it is necessary to provide lots of opportunities for training.
Second, both administrative employees and teachers showed negative perception of business efficiency with the introduction of Edufine. What is remarkable in particular is that administrative employees showed more negative perception of reduction in duties than teachers. Although many people were worried that the introduction of Edufine would increase duties for teachers, there was relatively less interest in the increase in duties for administrative employees. It is therefore necessary to take interest in the need to reduce duties for administrative employees as well as for teachers.
Third, both administrative employees and teachers showed positive perception of effects of the introduction of Edufine. In particular, as budgeting which had been considered specific to the administrative room came to be considered in relation to all the staff, it is necessary to maximize positive parts, such as transparency in operating budgets and the increase in business managers' accountability for budgeting, so that Edufine can be settled successfully.
Lastly, this study was conducted with limited subjects at model schools designated by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in 2009; only a few private schools participated in the research; and few teachers were actually using Edufine at school, resulting in the low response rate. With the overall introduction of Edufine and more subjects in the future, there will possibly be different results, which needs to be considered by follow-up researches.