Abstract:
The study determined the cost accounting skills needs of small business operators in Anambra State. Four research questions were formulated and answered by the study while thirteen null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Anambra State. The population for this study consists of 280 registered small business operators in Anambra State. Due to the manageable size of the population, the entire 280 registered small business operators were used for the study. Therefore, there was no sampling. The instrument for data collection was a structured 56-item questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into five sections (A - E). Section A was used to obtain the personal data of the respondents. Sections B, C, D and E were further structured into bipolar scale of perceived importance and expressed possession to obtain the required data on record-keeping, inventory control, inventory valuation and price determination skills of the small business operators respectively. The instrument was face-validated by three experts. One from Internal Audit Department, University of Nigeria Nsukka and two from the Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To determine the internal consistency of the instrument, Cronbach Alpha reliability technique was adopted. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.78 was obtained for record-keeping skills, 0.83 for inventory control skills, 0.80 for inventory valuation skills while 0.75 was obtained for price determination skills needed by small business operators. The researcher and with help of three research assistants facilitated the process of data collection for the study. Out of the 280 copies of the questionnaire administered, 269 copies were returned and appropriately filled and used for data analysis. The data collected were analyzed using mean and correlated t-test for answering the research questions while t-test statistic and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the data analyzed, the study found that cost accounting skills are perceived to be very important by the operators but the levels of possession are still below expectation. The hypotheses tested showed that age, experience and academic qualification of the small business operators significantly influence the record-keeping, inventory control, inventory valuation and price determination skills possessed by the small business operators while location has no significant influence on price determination skills possessed by the business operators. Based on these findings, the study recommended that a training programme be mounted for small business operators in the state on cost accounting skills needed for business operation. The training should focus on record keeping, inventory control, inventory valuation and price determination skills for increase business performance.
