The Enhancement of Community Knowledge to Develop a Standardized Accounting Program by the Participation of Donmueang District and Laksi District Communities in Bangkok

Abstract

Accounting is one of the most important processes in the administration of public, private, and community organizations. It ensures the success of organizational operations, minimizes risks, and cultivates verifiability and transparency that appeal to stakeholders. The aim of this research project is to increase  accounting knowledge in the community  by developing community courses that  enable individuals to collect and organize different types of financial data in a consistent manner.  The contents of accounting for the community were developed using generally accepted accounting principles. This study used a community-based research methodology. Its main focus was community-level participatory management. The community researchers in Bangkok's Donmueang District were in charge; they brought up the need for learning, sharing, and exchanging of accounting knowledge for communities through workshops and the practical application of community-drawn case studies, knowledge transfer to other communities, and summarizing their thoughts on the topics that should be covered  in the community accounting courses, including the learners' backgrounds.     

The research findings demonstrated that each participating community received the same kind of state budget. Nonetheless, depending on each community's level of comprehension, different  techniques for gathering and arranging financial data were used. Although the related state agencies gave the community members multiple chances to improve their accounting skills, their understanding and hands-on training were insufficient. Thus, the community members had acquired new and simplified knowledge applicable under four topic frameworks—financial accounting, cost accounting, tax accounting, and internal auditing—according to the learning procedure of this research team.  The courses  were offered at three different levels: short, intermediate, and long-term courses.  1) The short term course focused on the community demands for production planning, sales pricing, sales volume and intended profit as well as data summary for financial statement preparation.  2) The intermediate course was created to help community members prepare their budgets so they can propose supplemental budgets to support local operations.  3) The long term course met the community's needs in learning how to record financial transactions for juristic persons in order to submit financial statements to Department of Business Development, Ministry of Finance or other relevant offices.  The time frame had been set for the courses that were created.  There were two methods for assessing  learning outcomes based on the learners’ background.  Among these were: 1) the learning process and duration for participants with some prior accounting knowledge; and 2) the learning process and duration for participants with no prior accounting knowledge. In summary, these results were advantageous not only to the community that took part in the study but also to other communities that might be interested in enhancing their capacity and applying it to products, professional associations, or other community-based businesses. The project's community researchers  involved in the study were ready to act as resources for the dissemination and knowledge  transfer of accounting to the local community.