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  2. Vol 2 Issue 6, 2020
  3. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG MARKET WOMEN IN THE SUNYANI CENTRAL MARKET
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EVELYN BAAH

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AMONG MARKET WOMEN IN THE SUNYANI CENTRAL MARKET

This research studied the financial management practices of the market women entrepreneurs in the Sunyani Central Market in Ghana with the view of understanding the financial management practices that drive their performance. The analyses showed that 53% of the market women do not practice basic financial management practices such as record keeping and preparation of financial statement although 87.5% believes financial management practices are beneficial to the growth and survival of their enterprises. Though, 89% of the market women traders required loans, 91% declined going for loans because of unaffordable high interest rates. Further, 82% of the market women spend business fund on non-business expenditure, especially, for the care of their children. In addition, the rate of financial inclusion of market women is high and profit level is low, obtaining loans from the commercial banks becomes very challenging for the market women. Consequently, there is the need for the commercial banks to reduce their interest rates so that obtaining loan becomes easily accessible for all market women. From the findings, it is concluded that market women entrepreneurs as a matter of urgency need to incorporate sound financial management practices into their economic activities so that basic management tools such as accounting records keeping and effective working capital management would drive and improve business performance to ensure achievement of business objectives.