Book-keeping as a Correlate of Effective Small-Scale Business Development in Orita-challenge and Challenge Market Areas in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Small scale business is a business that employs a small number of workers and does not have a high volume of sales. Small-scale business is organized, operated, managed and controlled by a small business owner. This study examined book-keeping as a correlate of small-scale business development in Orita Challenge and Challenge market areas in Ibadan, Oyo State. 3 research questions and 2 hypotheses were formulated to achieve the stated purpose of the study. The study used descriptive research design. All small-scale business owners in Orita-challenge and Challenge market areas were the target population. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the samples for the study. 67% small scale business owners out of the average number were randomly selected from each market making 702 respondents. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The instrument was validated and a pilot study was carried out on 10 small scale business owners who were not part of the sample and the reliability coefficient Cronbach alpha was 0.701. Percentage was used to analyse the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used for hypothesis one while t-test distribution was used for the second hypothesis. From the results, it was observed that many of the small business owners in those markets do not keep records for transactions (46%), and only very few of them had daily purchase book (8%). From the few people who were keeping daily records, many of them claimed not to be facing any challenges in book-keeping (72%). Moreover, the findings showed that there was significant relationship (P<0.05) between effective book- keeping and small-scale business development in Orita-challenge and Challenge market areas. It was recommended that training or orientation should be organised by local government for the small-scale business owners on the importance of book-keeping for business development.