Financial Literacy in Micro-Enterprises: The Case of Cebu Fish Vendors

Abstract

A myriad of reasons explain the performance of business ventures; one of these is the possession or lack of skill in managing the financial affairs of those ventures.  While the lack or deficiency of it may be detrimental to larger enterprises, the effect could be much more disadvantageous to small or micro enterprises.  This study assesses the financial skills of fish vendors in Pasil, the main fish distribution and trading center in Cebu City, Philippines. This study used simple random sampling to obtain 123 respondents and adopted a 95% level of confidence on statistical tests. Findings show that vendors possess low level financial skills as indicated by a significant number of vendors who do not record nor keep record of transactions, do not monitor profit and loss, and have deficient cash management practices.  Furthermore, most vendors are confined to high interest loans.