A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE TOPIC:

THE ROLE OF BOOKKEEPING AMONG SMES ON THE GHANAIAN ALTERNATIVE

MARKET

GHANA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (GIMPA)

BY
KEN BOATENG DARKWAHENE
AMO EBENEZER
GBEDEMAH MABEL
ABENA AFRAKOMA
NARTEY BRIDGITTA TEIKO

Background of the study

As the possibilities of landing salaried positions has ended up increasingly hard, numerous
individuals, taught and uneducated, are returning to acting naturally utilized. One method for
acting naturally utilized is to begin a small business. A small business is any business that is
autonomously claimed and worked (Holmes, 1988). By and large, Small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) are organizations whose turnovers fall beneath specific cut off points. The
present definitions order organizations with under 10 workers as "miniaturized scale," those
with less than 50 representatives as "little" and those with under 250 as medium". SMEs
along these lines need between 20-500 workers (Williams, 2000). The meaning of a SME
may likewise rely on upon the quantity of representatives, business turn over and resources
(Aremu, 2011).
Bookkeeping is the recording off all money related exchange in a methodical and sensible
way. Exchanges incorporate deals, buy pay, and installments by an individual or association.
Bookkeeping is generally performed by a clerk utilizing normal techniques for accounting,
for example, single section and twofold passage frameworks. While these frameworks might
be seen as "genuine" accounting, any procedure that includes recording of money related
exchanges is an accounting procedure (Haber, 2004).
Problem Statement
The necessity of recording all the transactions clearly and systematically cannot be overemphasized. Accounting records, prepared on the basis of uniform practices enable business
to compare results of one period with another period. Taxation authority (both income tax and
VAT) are also likely to believe the facts contained in the set of accounting records/books if
they are maintained according to generally accepted accounting principles. Accounting
records backed up by proper authenticated vouchers are good evidence in court of law in the
event of fraud by the customers, suppliers and employees. Studies on SMEs have disclosed
that about 60% of small businesses fail within the first three years due to management

inefficiencies brought about by poor record keeping. Hence, its against this background that
the study looks at investigating the role of bookkeeping among SMEs on the Ghanaian
alternative market.
Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study is to assess the role of bookkeeping among SMEs on the
Ghanaian alternative market. To achieve that the study would look at the following specific
objectives;
1. To determine the types of Bookkeeping among SMEs
2. To investigate the effectiveness of the various Bookkeeping practices among SMEs
3. To ascertain the impact of Bookkeeping on the organisational growth of SMEs
Research Methodology
The study would be focusing on only SMEs on the Ghanaian alternative market, therefore
its target population would be employees of those SMEs from which a sample would
selected for the purpose of the study. Due to the nature of the study the researcher would
employ the use of questionnaires as the main research instrument.
Literature Review
The book keeping transactions of an enterprise need to be recorded in the book keeping
books. Some form of recording was essential to all businesses for the day-to-day management
of their operations and the fulfilment of unavoidable governmental obligations such as
taxation. It is well known that inadequate record keeping is frequently associated with
failures in small businesses even if it is not actually the direct cause of failure. For record
keeping purposes the enterprise can use different methods.
Primary bookkeeping records all business transactions and allocates the income and expenses
to various income and expenses account in separate account records (McCarthy, 2000). The
single book keeping can be done with book keeping software to speed up manual calculation
(Haber, 2004). Double entry book keeping system involves recording of financial information

in a financial accounting system where a financial transaction impacts at least two different
accounts. In modem accounting, this is done using debits and credits and serves a kind of
error system. If at any point the system of debits doesnt equal to the sum of credits then an
error has occurred. In SMEs, bookkeeping vary in size, frequency, sensitivity, maturity and
the level of growth of the SMEs including the relative importance of fixed working capital.
The system of book keeping depends on the operator of the SMEs (Enon, 2000).
Scope of study
Generally, SMEs and the Ghanaian alternative market will be studied with specific focus on
the role of bookkeeping among SMEs on the Ghanaian alternative market. Samples will be
drawn from all eight companies list on the alternative market according to (Ghana, 2016)
thus;

AFB (Ghana)
Bayport Financial Services (Ghana)
Edendale Properties
IZWE Loans Limited
HORDS Limited
Intravenous Infusions Limited
Meridian Marshalls Holding Limited
Samba Foods Limited
This will aid in inclusively providing understanding about the study topic and a tangible
analysis of the study.
Significance of the study
Above all, this research will help bring the issue of the benefits of Good Bookkeeping
practices into focus and also serve as a reference to researchers as a source of secondary data.
Also it will pave the way for the conducting of a similar study by others in much more detail
and deeper analysis.

Research Time Table

CHAPTER
1
2
3
4
5
TOTAL

TOPIC
Introduction
Literature review
Methodology/ Data collection
Results and discussions
Conclusion and recommendations

%
5
30
30
15
20
100

NO OF WEEKS
2
3
4
2
2
13

References
Aremu, M. (2011). Small and medium scale enterprises as a survival strategy for employment
generation in Africa. (S. Adeyemi, Ed.) 4, 200-206. Retrieved from Journal of
sustainble development.
Ghana, A. R. (2016). The Ghana Alternative Market Fillings. Retrieved from The Ghana
Shock Exchange (GSE): www.annualreportsghana.com
Haber, J. (2004). Accounting Demystified. Accounting.

Holmes, S. (1988). An analysis of the use of accounting information by Australian small

business. (D. Nicholls, Ed.) Journal of Small Business Management, 5, 57-68.
McCarthy, E. (2000). A Generalized Frame Work for Accounting Systems In a Shared Data
Environment. The Accounting Model.
Williams, A. J. (2000). A longitudinal analysis of the characteristics and performance of small
business in Australia. (201258, Ed.) Institute of Industrial Economics, 3.