Book Keeping
Hello every body, Welcome to this session on book keeping. I can tell that you have already read the background paper on this subject relating to how facilitators can effectively deliver the Record keeping topic.
I hope we will have very fruitful discussions that will improve our ability to handle this topic. I invite you all to give your opionion and to share your experiences.--nkl 19:43, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
Hello Marcos
It nice to hear that you are interested to learn more about this topic. As i indicated in the discussion paper, Book Keeping is the cornerstone of any business enterpirse and facilitators need to ensure that their trainees grasp the key concept therein. Do you have any experience delivering Book Keeping training?
From observation, I think its difficult for workshop participants to grasp this all important concept. And the problem could be that enough time has not been allocated to it. Often, bookkeeping is part of a tall list of topics to be covered at workshops. Participants get tired by the time the topic is raised and so not much hands-on exercises are done. I have also observed that entrepreneurs with at least secondary education and above seem to appreciate the importance of bookkeeping. Possibly, bookkeeping should be handled alone for a whole day or more with lots of hands-on exercises for participants to grasp the concept well.
Hello Everyone,
Thanks Naomy, reading the paper on bookkeeping was very enlightening. Bookkeeping is a very essential component of any entrepreneurship training, because in-depth knowledge of the topic is a basic requirement for the successful running of the businesses that young people may start. Absence of proper bookkeeping may be responsible for some of the challenges that young people experience in running their businesses, because if a bookkeeping system is properly adhered to, signs of business failure will be noticed early and appropriate measures can be taken to prevent it. I think facilitators should emphasize the importance of bookkeeping and also give enough time to this aspect during youth entrepreneurship training sessions. I also commend the simple and easy to understand manner the discussion paper was delivered.
Dear Naomi and Shining Star, Of course the background paper is very enlightening and the contribution by shining star is valid. Book keeping is important since this is the glue that sticks a business to success. Although I have not been involved in book keeping training before as a facilitator, this training presents an opportunity to understand the subject better. Am sure that most facilitators do not dwell so much on this topic since participants may find it "boring" due to the maths involved; let us face the fact that most youths are not fond of maths and they believe that business is simply about collecting money and spending on whatever they find necessary. The biggest mistake that the young enterprenuers make is assuming that all the money in their cash drawer is profit! the books of account are the best tools to demystify this assumption. As a personal experience, I have awfully failed in business once and after careful review, the problem was simply lack of records to show me the direction that my business was taking. This is a critical component in any business however small or whatever the nature of trade.
Thanks Marcos,
Sharing your personal experience in business has been very helpful. It points the areas in which youth workers should focus their monitoring exercise of youth entrepreneurs. Instead of checking only for evidence of business start up and growth, by the amount of goods produced and services rendered, monitoring should also focus on checking the books in order to spot challenges on time and guide the youth entrepreneurs appropriately.
Shining Star, I like your submissions, most people, not only the youth and entrepreneurs might have suffered business collapses because something may not have gone well-Bookkeping. As interesting and educative as this topic presents itself, one may be tempted to request curriculum developers to integrate bookkeeping into our curriculum. I will be a strong advocate to suggest the we must start practising "keeping our books" from a personal level even as young people before the youthful period.
Thanks Kafuiaheto, i agree that it will be benefiacil if Book Keeping and even entrepreneurship education in general, is incorporated in the school curriculum. A way out would be to have this stated in the youth or education policies.
Hello every body!
Having read through the background paper, I was enlightened on how to deliver the training on Book-keeping to Youth Entrtepreneurs despite initial challenges. I also realised that one does not have to be an expert on book-keeping to train others.I further realised that we all need record keeping in one way or the other in our daily lives.Na'omi really did agreat job.--Luckyluka 14:11, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
Dear Colleaques,
The lesson on Bookkeeping is very interesting and important. It is the process that an entrepreneurs undertake to ensure business records are documented. This will help Youth to asses whether his/her business is performing well or not. It makes youth in business to make better decisions in their busineeses. In a nutshell, record keeping in entrepreneurship, is the record of how money comes in and it goes out in business
Hello dear participants
Book keeping is that part of accounting which is concerned with the recording of data,this will assist entrepreneurs to work out how much profit or loss has been made by the business during a particular period.
Samuel.
Dear all Thank you for these lively discussions and valuable contributions. It is clear that we are all agreeable that book keeping is very important for youth enterprises. And also that Facilitators need to be well grounded in the conceptual knowledge on Book keeping. additionally that facilitators need to develop innovative ways of maintaining the interest of the youth in this topic.
As we wind up this dicussion, let us ponder on how book keeping is linked to the overall financial management in the enterprise.
Dear fellow participants
As the name implies, bookkeeping is keeping a record (in a print or electronic form) of all transactions pertaining to a business. In fact, the importance of bookkeeping cannot be overlaboured, because the success or failure of any entrepreneurship venture is a fuction of how well records have been kept. In fact failure to keep record of transactions of a business is a recipi for business failure.
In my view, I see bookkeeping to be a financial database of full, accurate, up-to-date business records or a financial database of cashflow of an individual, business or organization irrespective of its size. If bookkeeping is observed very well, the financial direction can always be viewed at a glance giving detailed information on profits and losses, etc. --Kafuiaheto 18:08, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
Hello shining Star, Marcos and Kafuiaheto,
The comments you have made are very valid. Without proper records an enterprise cannot tell whether it is making profit or not. The challange that trainers normally face in delivering this seemingly difficult but important topic is to make the topic interesting for the youth. One way of doing this is by involving youth participants in role plays or simulation exercises that bring out the key learning points such as 'how to develop a simple system of keeping records'. Trainers can then facilitate some lively debates from the lessons learnt from such exercises.
What are some of the 'good practice' training approaches you have come accross in your work with the youth?
Dear all
As noted by the other participants, Book Keeping is very important for the success of any business, as it shows what "comes in" and what "goes out" of the business. Despite its importance, it is not practiced by most small scale entrepreneurs for various reasons. Some feel they are too busy to record transactions while others genuinley have no idea how to keep records.
As we learnt in the Module 1.1 that youth are heterogenous, faciliataors must be mindful of this. For instance innovative ways of teaching the subject should be used for those with low literacy levels.
Hi Mulako, Interesting point about the need to take cognizance of the differences of the youths. I am thinking of the semi literate and illiterate youths. Recently one of my training sessions was in vernacular because half the participants former street children have never been to school.--Smauye 13:27, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
Some of the definitions that need demystifying and perhaps explaining in local language are: bank reconciliation; credit notes; cash flow. Is it possible to make the language easier to understand for both facilitator and young people to be trained?--Smauye 13:21, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
