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A study of Financial Accounting Practices of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ho Municipality, Ghana

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This paper examined the financial accounting practices of SMEs drawing on a survey of 225 owner-managers in Ho Municipality. The results revealed that majority of SMEs failed to keep proper accounting records pertaining to their businesses. Consequently, it was difficult for the owner-managers to determine the profit earned or loss suffered in the business during a particular accounting period in addition to the position of assets and liabilities to be able to strategize and make certain adjustments on their businesses.The major reasons for the entities failure to maintain proper accounting records and prepare a complete set of financial statements included high cost of hiring qualified accountants and lack of accounting knowledge on the part of some owner-managers. It is recommended that the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) in collaboration with the accounting bodies should organize accounting training programmes for owner-managers of SMEs on proper bookkeeping and accounting practices.
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