INTERNAL CONTROL AND COST MANAGEMENT: ANTIDOTE TO THE DEMISE OF MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES?

Abstract

The study investigates how Internal Control (IC) and Cost Management (GC) contribute to the reduction of death in the first years of life and optimize the operating costs of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE's). To this end, 127 MSEs in the retail, wholesale, and service segments were investigated in the period 2014 to 2022, through the descriptive method with the application of semi-structured questionnaires and analysis of financial and management statements. The motivation for the study was due to the fact that it is a business segment responsible for 27% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for generating an average of 83% of employment, growth of 5% per year, and 68% of mortality in the first two years (SEBRAE, 2010; 2015). The results suggest that IC and GC are unknown to managers in this segment and that accountants (mostly accounting technicians) are not interested in offering advice on this subject because there are no positive effects on accounting fees. On the other hand, managers understand that accounting is limited to the preparation of payroll and the issuance of tax guides. For this reason, they make their decisions based on their experiences gained over time. The study also identified that the managers' schooling corresponds to incomplete primary and secondary education, except, with rare exceptions in the service segment, with complete higher education.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu/0709/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>