ABSTRACT
This study assessed the book-keeping practices of Small and medium scale enterprises in Uyo Local Government Area. A sample of 150 respondents was selected through stratified and random sampling. Data was collected mainly through question naire. Descriptive (percentages) and inferential (the Chi square) statistical tools were used for the analysis and testing of hypotheses.The findings revealed that most very small businesses in the Uyo L.G.A have an account clerk and record their transactions manually following the single-entry system. Them ajor book keeping challenge they face is the lack of time, as such many of them maintain only the sales book.The study also revealed that when adequately kept, book keeping significantly influences the survival of very small businesses in the Uyo L.G.A as it enables them to trace their problems and to provide appropriate solutions. It was recommended that very small business owners should acquire further training in book keeping oremploy qualified book keeper assistant them in their tasks.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Small businesses dominate most economies in the world. They account for about 80% of the total industrial labour force in Japan, 50% in Germany, 46% in USA(Allouche & Amann, 2002; Dana & Ramadani, 2015; Kenyon Rouvinez& John, 2004; Kuratko, 2003). According to the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) of Nigeria (2009 and 2017), over 95 percent of Nigerian enterprises are small businesses. 70 percent of job creation in Nigeria and over 90 percent of Nigeria’s national economic fabric are of the responsibility of small businesses which contribute more than 34% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To promote and support this category of businesses, the government of Nigeria created the Ministry of Small and Medium Size Enterprises and enacted the law N° 2010/001 of April 13, 2010 as modified by the law N° 2015/010 of the 16th of July 2015 on the promotion of Small and Medium- sized Enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs play a big role in the economy as they provide employment and taxes in all sectors of the economy including agriculture and mining. Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of the world economy (Aremu & Adeyemi, 2011). For example, they account for 67.1% of the European Union non-financial business economy workforce. Hence, in many countries in the world it has been recognized that an SME-friendly business environment is crucial for growth and jobs creation (Kuehl, 2006). In some key industries, such as textiles, wood products, metal products, publishing, construction and furniture-making, SMEs account for more than 70% of all jobs. Small business enterprises are therefore a part of the informal sector and they bridge the gap of slow growth of the informal sector in the economy.
