Assessment of Accounting Personnel in Selected Small and Medium Enterprises

The objective of this research study is to assess accounting personnel in selected small and medium enterprises in Edo State, Staffing is one of the most important functions of management. It is an aspect of human resource management that include finding sufficient number of people who will take up employment in the business enterprise and selecting from the number of those who would be offered employment. The staffing function is housed in the human resource or personnel department of most large organizations. Finding and keeping good accounting employee is not a matter of luck but rather the result of aggressive recruitment, careful selection, proper training and motivation and thoughtful management. This may include manpower, planning to reconcile the organizations need for human resources with the available supply of labour in the local and national market.

Using the survey research method through the use of questionnaire. It was found that most SME business in Edo State do not carry out proper selection and recruitment process. This was seen to be largely caused by the fact that qualified accountant were too expensive to maintain; to most respondents, the fees/ salaries qualified accountants charge their employers is very high and that accounting records are too difficult to understand.

It was recommended that the owners of SME businessesshould always carry out proper job analysis to ascertain the extent kind of employees needed. This will lead to knowing the right recruitment and selection method to adopt.

Training and development program should be available for all levels of employees and not just for only new employees. This will bring about improvement of work methods adopted by the organization and objective job evaluation should always be known or stated to enhance its effectiveness.