Abstract:
The objective of this study is to investigate the application of the financial statements ins small and medium sized industrial enterprises (SME) in Suratthani, including the problems and limitations of such use in business management. The methodology comprised collecting 154 completed questionnaires from a sample of small and medium sized businesses in the area. Analysis was conducted using statistical software, SPSS, to calculate the distribution in percentages, mean and median. ANOVA and Scheffe Analysis was used to measure the relationship between variables. The statistical significance level was decided at 0.5 level.
The results show that SME in Suratthani use financial statements to plan, make decisions, manage and control as summarized below:
1.Using financial statements for planning
The managers of SME use the financial statements for market planning in pricing decisions. The statements are also used in production, cost planning and supply materials planning. Human resources, payroll planning, storage and the planning for leftover goods at the end of the year are also among the applications of financial statements. The application is finally used to plan business running costs and revenue and taxation management. However, the use of financial statements only has a relatively small influence in planning.
2.Use of financial statements for managing and controlling
The use of financial statements for managing and controlling is minimal. It is mainly used for monitoring the performance to determine the areas that need attention. In addition, this use is for the control of material supplies, HR and payroll control and the control of storage and management of leftover goods. The use includes management of running costs, and forecast of the expected revenue.
3.Use of financial statements in decision-making
The use in this area is also small. Managers of SMEs use financial statements to make decisions in how to increase the payroll and to ensure the businesses are feasible. The decision-making use includes the cost control, investment and divestment decisions.
The use of application of financial statements was compared among the various sectors the classified by types of businesses and types of management. The results indicated that there are nine factors that influenced the use of financial statements jurisdiction, type of factory, size of investment, size of the industry, value of the assets, number of employees, education level of management, management experience and the discipline of study of the managers. The study found that the use of the application of financial statements was not influenced by size of investment, value of assets and the number of employees, white the other six factors have a degree of influence on the use.
The study shows that limited and problematic use of financial statements in decision-making, management and control is mainly due to delay in the production of financial statements and lack of knowledge and understanding of management.
WALAILAK UNIVERSITY. CENTER FOR LIBRARY RESOURCES AND EDUCATIONAL MEDIA