Financial Record Keeping Practices of Small Business Operators in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area of Ghana

Abstract

The role of SMEs in the economic development of a country cannot be over-emphasized. They stimulate growth, create social cohesion, generate income and are known as a primary driver for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as well as contributes to poverty alleviation. Notwithstanding, SMEs continue to battle with keeping financial records.This study examines record keeping practices of small business operators in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. The study adopted descriptive cross-sectional survey to find out how the enterprises sampled undertake record keeping.Simple random sampling (random numbers)was used to select a sample of 200 SMEs. The main descriptive technique for presenting data were frequencies, means score, standard deviation and percentages. This study found that 85% of small business operators keep records relating to customer’s indebtedness (Mean score=0.85; SD=0.361); notwithstanding, asset register was the least records kept (Mean Score=0.50; SD=0.502). This paper recommends that there should be a mandatory policy for small business operators to keep records of their business transactions especially asset register. There is also the need to train most of the small business operators in Ghana on the relevance of using the computer-assisted software in record keeping, especially those with little education. The training should be designed such that entrepreneurs with limited education could comprehend and use the skills they will acquire from such training. This will help in the management of small business operations and at the same time when it comes to issues of taxation.