Shaif Uddin Ahammed
An Examination of Accounting Practices and Challenges of Microbusinesses: Empirical Evidence from Scotland
Ahammed, Shaif Uddin; Beloucif, Ahmed; Tarbert, Heather
Authors
Ahmed Beloucif
Heather Tarbert
Abstract
In Scotland, there are more than 94% of enterprises which are defined as microbusinesses. Previous studies have thoroughly investigated accounting practices in SME sector internationally in addition to the UK. However, despite the prevalence of microbusinesses in Scotland, there is a lack of literature on the accounting practices and the particular challenges microbusiness face. To fill this gap, this study examines the accounting practices of microbusinesses and their challenges. An in-depth interview technique is used as a method of data collection, where we wanted to understand ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ in relation to this phenomenon.
Results suggest that the majority of microbusinesses used single entry bookkeeping and cash basis accounting. Furthermore, cost, knowledge of owners, time constraints emerged as key challenges of proper record keeping. In some cases, the calculation of profit and loss does not reflect the actual profit and loss for the business.
Overall, this study provides a number of policy implications. Thus, the Government and non-government agencies can use the information from this research to provide training in relation to accounting practices to microbusiness owners and managers. Training would help microbusinesses more accurately record transactions and hence allow for better decision making.
Citation
Ahammed, S. U., Beloucif, A., & Tarbert, H. (2019). An Examination of Accounting Practices and Challenges of Microbusinesses: Empirical Evidence from Scotland. In Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Conference Name | The 42nd Annual Conference of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship |
---|---|
Conference Location | Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom |
Start Date | Nov 14, 2019 |
End Date | Nov 15, 2019 |
Online Publication Date | May 14, 2019 |
Publication Date | Nov 14, 2019 |
Deposit Date | Sep 12, 2021 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Book Title | Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship |
ISBN | 9781900862325 |
Keywords | Microbusiness, accounting practices, challenges, record keeping |
Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2801158 |
Publisher URL | https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/events/877/program-app/submission/132248 |
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