This dissertation, developed under the Graduation Program in Education at the Faculty of Education -Universidade de Brasília (UnB), linked to the Public Policies and Education Management line, has the financial management from the Administrative and Financial Decentralization Program (PDAF) as its object. The PDAF was implemented in public schools of the Federal District in 2008 in order to ensure management autonomy to carry out the pedagogical, administrative and financial project, through the financial resources. The program introduced a model of financial management in schools in which the accountability of the received resources requires knowledge from the principal beyond his initial training. The research used the historical-dialectical as its theoretical and methodological approach. The contradiction was chosen as its main category. The empirical research took place in three high schools under Plano Piloto/Cruzeiro Coordination of the Secretary of Education of the Federal Distrital (SEDF). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven teachers who work in the administration of the school, a technical advisor to the Coordination, and the employ responsible for Accountability Management of Decentralized Resources (GPDESC) of the Secretary of Education. Were analyzed the contradictions of the decentralization policy, because at the same time that the PDAF brought gains to the school autonomy, it is also centralized the work of the principal. The results of this research allow to assert: (a) although the SEDF has not created the school financial manager position, the responsibilities inherent were included in the director"s tasks; (b) the financial manager assignments became private of the director as long as the presidency body had to be mandatorily carried out by him; (c) the form of provision through direct election, even if combined with further training, does not guarantee the director"s technical training to carry out financial activities; (d) the support from higher instances to the financial implementation of the program inside the school was insufficient. In addition, the requirement knowledge from accounting, banking services, and legal fields, the complexity of the program, the excessive bureaucracy accountability, the irregularity of the transfers and the reduction of resources are factors that, in addition to hindering the educational planning school, can take it to the default situation.