Control environment and liquidity levels in Indigenous Ugandan Commercial Banks

Abstract

The study was set out to investigate the relationship between control environment and liquidity levels in indigenous Ugandan commercial banks. The purpose was to analyze the relationship between control environment, monitoring, accountability and liquidity levels. According to Bank of Uganda (2008) there was a reduction in rate from 19.27 to 15.88, but the commercial banks could not reduce their rate due to inadequate liquidity. Also indigenous Ugandan commercial banks reported in their returns, falling liquidity ratios by 16.4% from 2004 to 2007 (Bank of Uganda, 2007).

The study was a cross sectional survey. Stratified and purposive sampling design was conducted on a sample of 118 randomly selected respondents from indigenous Ugandan commercial banks operating at their headquarters in Kampala. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. The data was collected using administered questionnaires and analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). A multiple correlation coefficient and regression analysis were run to establish relationship between the study variables.

Regression results revealed that the combination of Control environment, accountability and monitoring significantly predicted or explained up to 19% of the variance in liquidity levels. However monitoring was the most significant predictor of liquidity levels (beta = .243). The main recommendation is that indigenous Ugandan commercial banks should maintain and strengthen control environment in order to enhance their liquidity levels.