In a business, the process of recording income and expenses, bookkeeping and recapitulating the amount of stock is an integral part of daily business operations. Although it may seem trivial, mismanagement can lead to miscalculation of profit and loss, which in the long run can result in significant losses. For this reason, it is important for businesses to start incorporating technology into this process in order to save time and human resources.
Given the importance of this, the Tax Administration Study Program, Vocational Education Program, Universitas Indonesia (UI), supported by the UI Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment, carried out community service activities with the theme “Financial Recording Literacy for Eco-Printing MSMEs”. This activity was carried out in Watu Belah Village, Sumber District, Cirebon Regency, West Java.
The activities were carried out in the form of workshops and implementation assistance during November-December 2021. A total of 25 business representatives from 10,287 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) attended as participants. The participants were MSME players who have been running business activities for at least three years and have a minimum turnover of Rp300,000,000/year.
Director of UI Vocational Education Program, Prof. Dr.Ir. Sigit Pranowo Hadiwardoyo said that UI Vocational School fosters MSMEs through several programs, one of which is community service. “This program is expected to increase the awareness and ability of MSME players in recording business finances and using technology. In this case, an application that makes it easier for MSME players to find out the development of their business, so that MSME players can manage business finances properly, and can report taxes on time,” Sigit said in his remarks.
Hadining Kusumastuti, as the Chief Executive, said that the material was delivered in the form of technical workshops to make it easier for participants to implement the material provided. “Bookkeeping and tax reporting is indeed one of the main problems of MSMEs today in addition to problems in packaging and marketing skills, therefore we emphasize the practical element, rather than theory alone,” he said.
Workshop This presentation presented three resource persons who presented fairly comprehensive financial recording materials for business actors, namely Arie Widodo with the material “Simple Financial Recording and the Latest Regulations in the Taxation Sector for MSME Taxpayers”, Adhi Praditia with the material entitled “Strategies for Managing Finances for SMEs”. Entrepreneurs to Advance through the Zahir Simply Application”, and Thesa Adi Purwanto who guides the participants to use the Zahir Simply application.
The MSME entrepeneurs involved in this activity have various business products including batik eco printing, snacks, soft drinks, clothing, handicrafts, and so on. The workshop was also attended by representatives of the village and the Cirebon Regency MSME Office, namely Maharto (Head of the Cirebon Regency MSME Office) and Harriman Nurbeka (Head of Watubelah Village, Cirebon Regency).
In carrying out this activity, the Universitas Indonesia Vocational Education Program collaborates with the application company Zahir Simply, which is an Android financial recording application that can make it easier for users to view records of expenses and income in the desired period.
Attendees can utilize the app for free for three months starting from December 2021. During the process, people can ask questions or consult through a WhatsApp group with a team of assistants from UI Vocational School. It is hoped that through this mentoring activity the participants can keep simple financial records, build the habit of recording incoming and outgoing money regularly, and separate business finances from personal finances.
