Unternehmertum und Organisationsmanagement

An Analysis of Bookkeeping Practises of Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Retail Clothing Industry in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Nyathi M and Benedict OH

Bookkeeping is regarded as a day-to-day function of a business operation in tracking cash inflows and cash out flows. Micro-entrepreneurs emanate from a wide range of disciplines with or without bookkeeping knowledge; however, bookkeeping execution is inevitable in operating a sustainable business. The purpose of this paper was to analyse micro-entrepreneurs’ bookkeeping practises within the retail clothing industry in Cape Town. Data were collected by means of questionnaires under positivism approach. The sample size was n=62. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to quantify and analyse data collected. The findings showed that most micro-entrepreneurs do practise bookkeeping manually, but do not complete the bookkeeping cycle. Worryingly was that was that most microentrepreneurs indicated that decision making is based on maintained financial records. This translates to unstainable poor decision-making emanating from incomplete bookkeeping records which may ultimately result in business failure. To this effect, it was recommended that micro-entrepreneurs’ should engage on complete bookkeeping practises so that business decisions are based on accurate financial records hence insightful quality business decision outcome towards business success.