Resumo:
Propsito do Trabalho:
Accounting and management tools in small businesses, when used, normally stem from legal or contractual obligation, and not for the purpose of obtaining a better decision making process. In this sense, stakeholders produce significant influence on the management strategies adopted by micro and small enterprises. Cancellier (2000) cites the banks as one of the main stakeholders of these organizations and demonstrates how managers of small businesses seek to meet the demands imposed by the banking system. He also notes the lender position is usually assumed by the own business partners, their family members or even the government.
Aware of the strong influence of stakeholders in conducting business, of the limited resources available and the limited knowledge management in small businesses, this study aims to verify the relationship between the different sources of financing and the management practices adopted by micro and small companies in a textile cluster in Brazil. It should be noted that the creation and development of clusters, composed mainly of small businesses, have, according to Domingues and Paulino (2009), Demajorovic and Silva (2010) and Ribeiro Corra and Souza (2012), an invaluable stimulus for regional and local growth.
Given the importance of regional characteristics, the study aims to investigate the relationship between funding and the use of management accounting practices. The emphasis is on small business in Brazil, given that there is a gap in the literature on this topic. This study contributes to the understanding of the influences of external characteristics in the internal managing the organization.
Base da plataforma terica:
One of the most basic decisions of an organization is its capital structure or its financing decisions. Authors such as Modigliani and Miller (1958) have given a contemporary approach to studies focused on the capital structure through the analysis of its effects on the value of organizations. Authors such as Myers (1984), Myers and Majluf (1984) and Kim (1978), trying to understand the factors that influence a company's capital structure. According to the trade-off theory, companies seek for an optimal level of debt, balancing between tax benefits and bankruptcy costs, whereas in the pecking order theory organizations seek debt when funds internally generated are insufficient, being the external resources the last resort. However, small businesses, in the same way that youngest companies, regularly resort to funding sources of family origin, to commercial credit (trade credit) and to angel investors (business angel finance), as indicated by Berger and Udell (1998). Roman, Tanewski and Smymios (2001), analyzing the capital structure of family businesses, strengthen this connection by negatively relating the time of existence of a company with getting family loans.
Given the variety of funding sources, Mizumoto et al. (2010) sought to identify factors that may be related or not to the business survival in an emerging economy. These factors include the capital stock, or origin of the resources, human capital and management practices. The authors observed that both in a logistic prediction model, as in the Cox bankruptcy prediction model, applying founders own resources or those originated from family or friends has no significance, in contrast to results obtained from "management practices" analyses.
Micro and small businesses usually do not demand advanced management practices, studies have confirmed the relevance of certain practices for the success of the enterprise. Santos, Diego and Beuren (2016), as well as Ruendget and Wongsurawat (2010), studied small businesses that were successful (57) and not successful (37) in Thailand, and highlighted two results in the first group (a) tendency to have a clear and systematic division of work performed; (b) tendency to establish control through regular accounting records, especially related to costs and expenses, and (c) tendency to develop business and marketing plans. These data are in line with the findings of vrov and Vrchota (2013) who comparing 176 companies in the Czech Republic suggested that small and medium companies that established clear strategies demonstrated better financial performance compared to those that did not. Santos, Diego and Beuren (2016) recently furthered this relationship. Deloof and Jegers (1999) and Camargos et al. (2010) indicate that the use of external funding sources is positively associated with the application of working capital management and cash management. Oak and Schiozer (2012), however, did not find the same results and claimed that this relationship cannot be confirmed in Brazil, because external funding tend to be sporadic in the country.
Mtodo de investigao:
This paper chooses to narrow the management practices to those studied in management and costs accounting. The sample consists of companies located in a large cluster of textile manufacturing in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, which covers several cities and has been growing significantly for the past years. Despite these cities having hundreds of production and sales centers, resistance to answering was high, mainly because of the widespread informality of business, low level of education of entrepreneurs and distrust of confidentiality of information. The sample consisted of 52 companies located in the three main cities in the cluster: Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Caruaru and Toritama.
The data was obtained through a questionnaire with questions related to the profile of the respondents, the profile of their firms and to management practices. Due to the large time spent with each respondent, it was also possible to obtain comments and opinions about their management practices, which, at times, became relevant to the analysis. The questionnaires were applied from June to August 2014.
The questions were based mainly on previous studies that examined the control practices and the use of management tools by companies, especially in the Brazilian context. These studies are listed in Table 1 on the paper. Respondents could answer whether they used such practices, which were used, and with what frequency.
The data did not show a symmetrical behavior, dissociating from the hypothesis of normality, as confirmed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test performed. Thus, it was applied the nonparametric MannWhitney U test, which serves as an alternative to the Student t-test and bases its analysis on medians. Additionally, Pearson and Spearman correlations were used to check the direction of the associations.
Resultados, concluses e suas implicaes:
The aim of this study was to verify the existence of relationships between management practices and the source of funds obtained by companies, since previous studies have found evidence of influence from sources in the management approach.
Some studies suggest that small businesses have limited access to credit, either because of their own management characteristics or the low customization of services by financial institutions, though Deelof and Jegers (1999) propose the existence of a positive relationship between management practices and obtaining external funding. Additionally, when the family is involved with the management, be it through financial aid or by exercising family control, there is evidence of a less systematic management, as suggested by Lema and Durndez (2007).
Based on these characteristics, this study used the data obtained through questionnaires applied in a textile cluster, characterized by the predominance of micro and small enterprises, in an emerging economy setting. It could be observed that 38,5% of the firms were initially fund-raised by family resources and that 42,3% resorted to the personal funds of the owner. As for usual resources 34% said that use banks resources and 21,2% use own resources to maintain the business.
It could be observed that sources of resources of family origin, classified as equity sources, showed significant negative associations with the management and control practices scrutinized in this study. When analyzing "personal funds" as source of capital, a different behavior was detected, indicating a proximity to the characteristics of a resource generated internally by the company. This hypothesis can be substantiated by the high concentration of organizations in the hands of the owner / manager, where most of respondents claims to disregard the business entity concept.
When the resources came from debt capital, a different behavior was shown. Relationships between management practices and debt capital present themselves positively, indicating that obtaining credit from these sources is associated with increased use of tools.
One limitation of this study is the reduced amount of questionnaires obtained. This amount prevents a more robust data analysis, preventing, for example, the verification of the dependency relationships between variables.
The main contribution of this research project is to allow a better understanding of management accounting practices in Brazilian small business. Management accounting practices are recognized important tools for fostering and sustaining growth. The information generated in this research project is expected to support the understanding of the context and the development of future initiatives to improve the use of relevant accounting practices in small business.
Referncias bibliogrficas:
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