Micro Financing: Accountability and Financial Management Practices of Micro Entrepreneurs

摘要

Objective: This study aims to look at the financial management practices of two groups of micro entrepreneurs; sahabats of AIM and asnafs entrepreneurs from PPUAZ. Method Analysis: Adopting a mixed method approach, this study combines both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews) approaches. The surveys were conducted first to provide the overall and background information of the micro enterprises and their financial management practices. Adopting the purposive sampling method, samples were chosen based on the participants' willingness to participate in the study. However, to ensure that the questions were answered by the targeted respondents, participants were asked on whether they were actively involved in running a business before answering the survey questions. Then, the findings from the questionnaire are verified in the interview sessions with the selected micro entrepreneurs. Findings: Data from the surveys and interviews were analyzed, and it was found that although asnafs are given "free money" from the PPUAZ, they generally have better financial management practices as compared to the sahabats. This study also found that that majority of the micro entrepreneurs score low on the financial management variables. This suggests that the micro entrepreneurs in general are not practicing a good record keeping. As financial management is vital for all types of entrepreneurship including micro, it is a concern as 21% of the micro entrepreneurs in this study are not recording anything from their business activities.