中小企业财务管理外文翻译文献.docx

1、中小企业财务管理外文翻译文献文献信息：文献标题：Strengths and Weaknesses among Malaysian SMEs: Financial Management Perspectives（ 马来西亚中小企业的优势和劣势：财务管理视角）国外作者：Norasikin Salikin，Norailis Ab Wahab，Izlawanie Muhammad文献出处：Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences,2014, 129:334-340字数统计：英文1918单词，10677字符；中文3291汉字外文文献：Strengths and

2、Weaknesses among Malaysian SMEs: Financial Management PerspectivesAbstract In Malaysia, 97.3% of business establishments are comprised of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which account for about 52.7% of total employment that is generated in the country. Malaysian government through the Ministry

3、of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and its agencies works hard on assisting SMEs through various activities to promote exposures on prudent financial management. This paper aims to identify the financial strengths and weaknesses face by SMEs in helping those entities to plan appropriate fina

4、ncial management programme. Semi- structured interviews were conducted among thirty five SMEs that are willing to participate voluntarily. This study found that capital is the key elements in both strengths and weakness among SMEs. Running the business without any external capital (loan) reducing th

5、e financial risk of the business. It will be easier for the managers to make business decisions without any constraint as there is no limitation set by fund provider. The study also revealed capital insufficiency is the crucial problems among SMEs which might due to the difficulties to obtain extern

6、al fund. Although the results should be taken with caution, nevertheless financial management is vital in order to face new business challenges as well as for the survival of the business in the future.Keywords: Small Medium Enterprises; SMEs; Financial Management1.IntroductionSmall and medium enter

7、prises (SMEs) play important roles in Malaysian economy. Report of Malaysia Economic Census 2011 showed that there were 645,136 SMEs operating in Malaysia, representing 97.3 per cent of total business establishments. Furthermore, SMEs employed about 3.7 million out of a total of 7.0 million workers

8、amounting 52.7 per cent of total employment in the country. With a total share of gross output reached 28.5 per cent in year 2011 as compared to only 22.2 per cent in year 2000 it shows that the roles are getting significant.A considerable amount of literature has been published on the management is

9、sues of SMEs. On the other hand only few studies were focusing on the financial management, especially in developing countries although it has been known that, financial management plays crucial function in business management. Report on case study conducted by Bank Negara Malaysia (2003) on SMEs, s

10、uggested that one of the key elements SMEs should adopt to survive for a long term, in a global environment is prudent financial management. It will ensure that all the available business resources are used efficiently and effectively to provide optimum return (SME Corporation Malaysia, 2011).The ai

11、m of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses face by Malaysian SMEs in term of financial management.2.SMEs Definition in MalaysiaThere is no solid meaning of SMEs as different countries are using different definition due to several demographic factors and characteristics including siz

12、e, location, structure, age, number of employees, sales volume, ownership through innovation and technology (Zeinalnezhad et. al, 2011). Based on employees number and total turnover, Malaysia adopts slightly similar definition as being use by United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, China an

13、d Korea (Norailis, 2013).Previously Malaysian SMEs were defined as firms with sales turnover not exceeding RM25 million or employment not exceeding 150 workers for manufacturing and sales turnover not exceeding RM5 million or employment not exceeding 50 workers for services and other sectors. As the

14、 economy has change and the business trends are moving abroad. On 11th July 2013, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the new criteria of SMEs which will be effective on 1st January 2014. Table 1 shows the new classification of SMEs.The new definition is more comprehensive,

15、 covering all sectors of the economy including construction, as well as mining and quarrying sectors. It is expected to result in more firms being classified as SMEs to 98.5 per cent (currently: 97.3 per cent), particularly from the services sector to facilitate the countrys transformation to a high

16、 income nation through the initiatives under the SME Masterplan. In year 2013, a total of 155 programmes have been planned for the implementation with a financial commitment of RM18.4 billion, expecting to benefit 467,838 SMEs.With all the facilities provided by the government, SMEs should grab thes

17、e opportunities to expand the businesses. However, the managers need to be equipped with latest knowledge and management skills to successfully manage their businesses in current business environment and stiff competition (Mohd. Amy Azhar, Harizal, & Hoe, 2010). In view of the fact that many entrepr

18、eneurs in Malaysia manage their business themselves without formal education background it lead to various management problems (Mohd Amy Azhar et al., 2010). One of the most common problems face by SMEs is financial management problem (Hashim & Wafa, 2002).3.Financial Management of SMEsFinancial man

19、agement is concerning with the creation and maintenance of economic value or wealth (Titman et.al, 2011). It involves decisions to accumulate and preserve wealth of the business. Generally it covers the decision making process in several areas such as determining the source of finance and dividend p

20、olicy, investment decisions and working capital management. There is no big different between managing financial functions of big businesses or small businesses except that SMEs only deal with capital budgeting and working capital decision, given that SMEs are not paying dividends (Agyei- Mensah, 20

21、11).Comparative review on previous studies by Mohd Amy Azhar et al. (2010) suggested that financial management consist of six components; financial planning and control, financial accounting, financial analysis, management accounting, capital budgeting and working capital management. The study also

22、highlighted that the adoption of financial management tools among Malaysian SMEs were very low. Seeing that most SMEs practicing proper financial planning and control, financial accounting and working capital management, these components were labeled as core components of financial management. Yet t

23、he other three components which were mostly neglected were labeled as supplement components of financial management.A small scale study by Agyei-Mensah (2011) concluded that the influence of fund providers and external accountants are the most dominant factors stimulate SMEs to adopt reasonable fina

24、ncial management. On the other hand, due to lack of internal accounting staff and high cost to hire qualified accountant, SMEs face difficulties to understand accounting record and practice sound financial management.4.MethodologySemi-structured interviews were conducted among thirty five SMEs that

25、were willing to participate in this study. The process of data collection took almost two months, due to the process of getting responses from the SMEs that were willing to participate in the study. The interview sessions were divided into two main sections. Section A was on demographic profile of t

26、he interviewees made up of various types of industries. This part asked for background information, which includes type of ownership, age of business, initial capital, source of capital, time spent to manage business, number of employees and owners education background. The SMEs crossed the range of

27、 firm size, geographic location within Malaysia. Meanwhile, Section B focused on the financial management activities and related questions on the practices. Initially, to understand the behaviour of respondents, the data are first described using appropriate tables. Further analysis is conducted by

28、categorizing the responses regarding strengths and weaknesses among participated SMEs and quantifying the results.5.Results and DiscussionsThere were thirty five SMEs that participated in the study and their profile as presented can be categorized as sole proprietorship, partnership and company whic

29、h consisted several type of businesses as viewed in Table 2.As for age of SMEs, more than half of the participated SMEs were between 0 to 3 years (19.5%) and followed by 4 to 6 years (24.1%), 7 to 9 years (13.8%) and finally more than forty percent of the SMEs aged 10 years and above. A total of 74%

30、 were bootstrapped from their own savings or borrowing from friends and relatives for initial capital. From the total, 25.88% dared to bootstrapped for the amount less than RM5,000; RM20,001 and above (43.5%). However, merely seven per cent had their initial capital from commercial banks and governm

31、ent grants where the amount was more than RM50,000. Surprisingly, nearly half (49.5%) of the business owners spent their time between 9 to 12 hours every day to manage their businesses.It is important to know the educational background of the business owners because it showed the extent of their wil

32、lingness in accepting new knowledge through training, seminars and workshops. These events were managed mostly by agencies under Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) such as Pocket Talks by SME Corp., Domestic Investment activities by Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)

33、and Innovative and Creative Circle (ICC) Convention by Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC). The government urges the SMEs to utilize the skills and knowledge gained from these events so that they could adopt prudent financial management.5.1.Financial Strengths of SMEsThe overall response on the financial strengths of the b