Do Internal Control Activities Adversely Influence the Profitability and Solvency of South African SMMEs?
Abstract
Internal control activities should provide reasonable assurance surrounding the attainment of business objectives in the foreseeable future, be they financial or non-financial in nature. Recent studies suggest that internal control activities used within South African Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are inadequate and/or ineffective they do not provide reasonable assurance surrounding the attainment of relevant objectives. For this study emphasis was placed on whether internal control activities used by South African SMMEs had an adverse influence on their profitability and solvency. Data were obtained from 119 members of management of South African SMMEs, which allowed a total of14 relationships to be tested. Only four relationships were found to be statistically significant which led to the rejection of the two developed hypotheses. Stemming from the results, it appears that there may be a need for the development of formal policies pertaining to internal control within a South African SMME dispensation.
Downloads
References
Coetzee, P. (2006). Effect of HIV/AIDS on the control environment. Perspectives in Public Health, 183-190. Cohen, A. & Sayag, G. (2010). The effectiveness of internal auditing: An empirical examination of its determinants in Israeli Organizations. Australian Accounting Review, 20(3), 296-307. COSO. (1992). Internal control integrated framework, Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Jersey. COSO. (2012). Internal control integrated framework. Retrieved from http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/COSO_InternalControlFramework_September2012/$ FILE/COSO_InternalControlFramework_September2012.pdf Ejoh, N. & Ejom, P. (2014). The impact of internal control activities on financial performance of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 5(16), 133-143. Fatoki, O. (2014). Enhancing access of external finance for new micro enterprises in South Africa. Journal of Economics, 2, 1-6. Fatoki, O. & Odeyemi, A. (2010). Which new small and medium enterprises in South Africa have access to bank credit? International Journal of Business and Management, 5(10), 128-136. Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Flynn, D., Koornhof, C., Kleynhans, J., Meyer, L., Posthumus, L., Arendse, R. & Muriro, R. (2016). Fundamental Accounting. Cape Town: Juta. Frazer, L. (2012). The effect of internal control on the operating activities of small restaurants. Journal of Business and Economics Research, 10(6), 361-373. Halonen, P. (2014). Risk-based case company X. Aalto University. Unpublished Manuscript (thesis). Hill, H. (2001). Small and medium enterprises in Indonesia: old policy challenges for a new administration. Asian Survey, 41(2), 248-270. Jeon, C., Amekudzi, A. & Guensler, R. (2010). Evaluating plan alternatives for transportation system sustainability: Atlanta metropolitan region. International Journla of Sustainable Transportation, 4(4), 227-247. Kew, J. & Watson, A. (2012). Financial Accounting: An Introduction. Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa. Kiyosaki, R. & Lechter, S. (2003). The Cashflow Quadrant. New York: Grand Central Publishing. Lebacq, T., Baret, P. & Stilmant, D. (2013). Sustainability indicators for livestock farming: a review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 33(2), 311-327. Martin, K., Sanders, E. & Scalan, G. (2014). The potential impact of COSO internal control integrated framework revision on internal audit structured SOX work programs. Research in Accounting Regulation, 3, 110-117. McNally, J. (2013). The 2013 COSO framework and SOX compliance: one approach to an effective transition. Retrieved from http://www.coso.org/documents/COSO%20McNallyTransition%20ArticleFinal%20COSO%20Versi on%20Proof_5-31-13.pdf Moloi, N. (2013). The sustainability of construction small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. Witwatersrand. Unpublished Manuscript (dissertation). Mouloungui, S. (2012). Assessing the impact of finance on small business development in Africa: the cases of South Africa and Gabon. Tswane University of Technology. Unpublished Manuscript (dissertation). Naidoo, R. & Urban, B. (2010). The relevance of operational skills towards business sustainability: a focus on SMME manufacturers in the Vaal Triangle region. Acta Commercii, 10(1), 234-248. Ngary, C., Smit, Y., Bruwer, J. P. & Ukpere, W. (2014). Financial performance measures and business objectives attainment in fast food SMMEs in the Cape metropolis: a preliminary liability and suitability analysis. Mediterranean Journal of Social Science, 5(20), 909-921. Radas, S. Technovation, 29(6), 438-450. Rodgers, C. (2010). Sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: a case study analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 17(3), 125-132. SAICA. (2015). 2015 SME insights report. Retrieved from http://www.saica.co.za/Portals/0/documents/SAICA_SME.PDF Siwangaza, L. (2013). The status of internal controls in fast moving consumer goods SMMEs in the Cape Peninsula. Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Unpublished Manuscript (thesis).
Small, R., Smidt, L. & Joseph, A. (2017, March). Financial statements and the failure of SMEs. Professional Accountant (SAIPA), 3, 17-19. Sowden-Service, C. (2006). Gripping GAAP. Durban: CSS Publishers. Swart, M. (2011). Small businesses are set to lead economic recovery. Professional Accountant (SAIPA), 2, 1012. Van Eeden, S., Viviers, S. & Venter, D. (2003). A comparative study of selected problems encountered by small businesses in the Nelson Mandela, Cape Town and Egoli metropoles. Managment Dynamics, 12(3), 13-23. Wren, C. & Storey, D. (2002). Evaluating the effect of soft business support upon small firm performance. Oxford Economic Papers, 54(2), 334-365.
Copyright (c) 2018 Juan-Pierré Bruwer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of a revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.