ABSTRACT
The objective of this research study is to assess accounting personnel in selected small and medium enterprises in Edo State, Staffing is one of the most important functions of management. It is an aspect of human resource management that include finding sufficient number of people who will take up employment in the business enterprise and selecting from the number of those who would be offered employment. The staffing function is housed in the human resource or personnel department of most large organizations. Finding and keeping good accounting employee is not a matter of luck but rather the result of aggressive recruitment, careful selection, proper training and motivation and thoughtful management. This may include manpower, planning to reconcile the organizations need for human resources with the available supply of labour in the local and national market.
Using the survey research method through the use of questionnaire. It was found that most SME business in Edo State do not carry out proper selection and recruitment process. This was seen to be largely caused by the fact that qualified accountant were too expensive to maintain; to most respondents, the fees/ salaries qualified accountants charge their employers is very high and that accounting records are too difficult to understand.
It was recommended that the owners of SME businessesshould always carry out proper job analysis to ascertain the extent kind of employees needed. This will lead to knowing the right recruitment and selection method to adopt.
Training and development program should be available for all levels of employees and not just for only new employees. This will bring about improvement of work methods adopted by the organization and objective job evaluation should always be known or stated to enhance its effectiveness.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
An accountant is one who observes economic activities of an enterprise and records the observations in the prescribed books, analysis his recordings, interprets his analysis and prepares reports to all users of accounting information.
The accounting process involves two main stages, the bookkeeping stage and the financial account phase or stage. The preparation of the accounts that can aid an organization to take informed decision rents squarely at the quality and size of accounting personnel in such organization. Staffing is indeed very important to all organization. For Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to succeed, the need for quality accounting personnel and adequate new member cannot be overemphasized.
Staffing is one of the most important functions of management. It is an aspect of human resource management that include finding sufficient number of people who will take up employment in the business enterprise and selecting from the number of those who would be offered employment. The staffing function is housed in the human resource or personnel department of most large organizations. While in the smaller organizations where there is often the absence of a well defined separate personnel department, the process of staffing is conducted by the manager of the owner of the business.
However, whether small, medium or large scale enterprises, the purpose of staffing is ensuring that positions within the organizations are filled and remain filled with competent workers during the organization to ensure that goals are met. Most writers have agreed that staff is composed of the following point: recruitment, selection, placement, training and development, employee appraisal, conceptualization and separation. From this it can be concluded that staffing involves process related to balancing the workload with available resources, recruiting, selecting among candidates for open position. Employment leaving the organization and transitioning into new position. (Carnegie Mellon University 001:109) human resource is considered the most valuable yet volatile and potentially unpredictable resources which an organization utilizes. If an organization fails to place and direct human resources, in the right areas of business, at the right time and the right cost, serious inefficiencies are likely to arise, creating considerable operational difficulties and likely failure (Braham 1990; Smith 1971). Acquiring and maintaining an adequate staff is the best asset an organization can have (Clifford 1989:145).
Finding and keeping good accounting employee is not a matter of luck but rather the result of aggressive recruitment, careful selection, proper training and motivation and thoughtful management. This may include manpower, planning to reconcile the organizations need for human resources with the available supply of labour in the local and national market.
The small and medium scale enterprises are found wanting when it comes to obtaining loan for their operations and growth.
To obtain bank assistance, financial statement and quality of accounting personnel is one of bank requirements. The bank wants to ensure the quality of decisions making. It is for this reason that this study is assessing the quality and size of accounting personnel in SMEs in Edo State.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Too much focus has been paid to large company when it comes to evaluate the quality and size of accounting personnel. It is quit understanding also because the large company can afford to hire and retain accounting personnel. Little or even nothing has been done to capture the position in SMEs. This has created a serious gap in knowledge. This is what this study attempts to bridge.
From the above the following Research Questions were derived
- What is the distribution of accounting personnel in term of the availability, number and quality of the selected SMEs?
- What are their academic and professional qualifications of each accounting staff and which professional bodies do they belong, in the selected SMEs?
- What is the gender classification of the account personnel in SMEs in Edo State?
- What is the respective level of exposure in accounting training and ICT.
- What type of training they have under gone for the past five years
- What are the various areas of their specialized duties?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study is to evaluate the quality and adequacy of accounting personnel in the selected 250 SMES in Edo State. The specific objective include:
- What is the distribution of accounting personnel in term of the availability, number and quality of the selected SMEs?
- What are their academic and professional qualifications of each accounting staff and which proportional bodies do they belong, in the selected SMEs?
- What is the gender classification of the account personnel in SMEs in Edo State?
- What is the respective level of exposure in accounting training and ICT.
- What type of training they have under gone for the past five years.
- Are their effective internal functional department?
- Are they vast in ICT, taxation, auditing and computer package?
- What are the various areas of their specialized duties?
1.5 Hypothesis of the Study
To facilitate the investigation the following hypotheses have been formulated:
HYPOTHESIS 1
Ho: The Profitability and growth of an SMEs is not significantly determined by the quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel
H1: The Profitability and growth of an SMEs is significantly determined by the quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel
HYPOTHESIS 2
Ho: Quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel is negatively related to an SMEs financial performance.
H1: Quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel is positively related to an SMEs financial performance.
HYPOTHESIS 3
Ho: Quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel is negatively related to an SMEs size.
H1: Quality and Availability of Accounting Personnel is positively related to an SMEs size.
1.6 The Scope of the Study
The research work focuses on the evaluation of accounting personnel in small and medium scale business in selected 250 SMES in Edo State. The selected SMES are purely limited liability companies.
1.7 The Significance of the Study
This work is significant because it will produce data that will be useful to:
- Entrepreneur to maximize profitability and growth
- To personnel managers in job placement.
- The researcher and student of management on assessment of accounting personnel in SMES.
1.8 The Limitation of the Study
This case study research design has limitations because accounting personnel assessment is to be studied in only a few limited liability companies. This will make it difficult to generalize the finding to other companies. The questionnaire method data collection is limited to verbalize responses to predetermined answer to the questions. The structure and standardize format of the questionnaire may force the respondents to give answer that they do not fully endorsed.
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