Participatory Workshop on Accounting Software Development, Case Study: San Khong Village Fund, Muang District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to study the problems and t he needs for accounting software of the village fund group and to establish process to organize participatory workshop on accounting software. Data collection was conducted through Focus group meeting, individual and group training. Committees and staffs of the San Khong Village fund, Muang district, Chiang Rai Province had participated in this research. Results found that, majority of the respondents are male, aged between 56-65 years old, with education level of Bachelor degree, occupation of government officer with pension benefit. Details on the process to organize participatory workshop on accounting softwarecan be described as follows: 1. Problems on accounting record of the village fund group – committees and staffs account incorrectly, delayed on recording, and could not finish in time. There are cases where some members would make inquiries but the staffs could not report as fast as wanted by the members. Information was no t updated. There are problems on debt collection, payment collection, and receipt issuance to the members. Forms of the Government Saving Bank are still b eing used. Therefore, the village fund group would like to have some training to improve their knowledge and skills on accounting with accounting software which will benefit effectiveness of their operation byutilizing this accounting knowledge. 2. Establishment of training process – In order to instill knowledge and understanding on the accounting software, researcher studied general information, prepared training process, conducted the training and evaluated the effectiveness of the process to further improve the training process. Satisfactory score of the participants on several aspects are described as follows 1) Trainers – the highest mean score was ‘ability to give clear explanation and direct to the point’ followed by ‘trainer’s answers on the questions asked’. 2) Venue, duration, food – the highest mean score was ‘food was appropriate’ followed by ‘cleanliness and appropriateness of the venue’. 3) Applicability of the knowledge – the highest mean score was ‘ability to apply the knowledge in their operation’ followed by ‘knowledge and understanding after the training’. 4) Village fund accounting software – the highest mean score was ‘the software uses correct, clear, and easy to understand language’ followed by ‘the software has simple steps for users to understand by themselves’. From the research, training process was developed by the researchers and related persons, as follows: 1. Make acquaintance to form good relationship between the researchers, committees, and staffs. 2. Training should be conduct best by expert teachers as well as Group Discussion. 3. Commitment to develop the accounting software