Depok-In a business, the recording income-expenditures process, bookkeeping to recapitulation of the number of stock items is an inseparable part of daily business operations. Even though it seems insignificant, mismanagement can result in an error in calculating profit and loss which in the long run can result in losses in large numbers. For this reason, it is important for business actors to start incorporating elements of technology in this process so that time and human resource efficiency occur.
Given the importance of this, the Tax Administration Study Program, Universitas Indonesia (UI) Vocational Education Program, supported by the UI Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment, carried out community service activities with the theme “Financial Records Literacy for Eco-Printing Batik MSMEs”. It was carried out in Watu Belah Village, Sumber District, Cirebon Regency, West Java.
These activities are carried out in the workshops form and implementation assistance during November-December 2021. Twenty-five representatives of business actors from 10,287 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) attended as participants. The participants who attended were MSMEs actors who had been running business activities for at least three years and had a minimum turnover of IDR 300,000,000/year.
The Director of the UI Vocational Education Program, Prof. Dr. Ir. Sigit Pranowo Hadiwardoyo, DEA said that UI Vocational fosters MSMEs through several programs, one of which is community service. “It is expected to increase awareness and ability of MSMEs actors in recording business finances and using technology. In this case, an application that makes it easier for MSMEs actors to know the development of their business, so that MSMEs actors can manage business finances well, and can make timely tax reports,” said Sigit in his opening remarks.
Hadining Kusumastuti, as the program leader, said the material was delivered in the form of a technical workshop to make it easier for the participants to implement the material provided. “Bookkeeping and tax reporting are indeed one of the main problems for MSMEs today, in addition to problems with packaging and marketing capabilities, therefore we place more emphasis on practical elements, rather than mere theory,” she said.
This workshop 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 MSMEs Taxpayers”, Adhi Praditia with the material entitled “Strategies for Managing Finance for Entrepreneurs to Advance through the Zahir Simply Application”, and Thesa Adi Purwanto who guides the participants to use the Zahir Simply application.
MSMEs actors involved in this activity have various business products, including eco printing batik, snacks, soft drinks, clothing, handicrafts, and so on. This workshop was also attended by representatives of the village and UMKM office in Cirebon Regency, namely Maharto (Head of the MSMEs Office of Cirebon Regency) and Harriman Nurbeka (Lurah of Watubelah Village, Cirebon Regency).
In carrying out this activity, the UI 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 within the desired period.
Participants who attend can take advantage of the application for free for three months starting from December 2021. In the process, the public can ask questions or consult through a WhatsApp group with the companion team from UI Vocational. It is hoped that through this mentoring activity, participants will be able to keep simple financial records, build a habit of recording incoming and outgoing money on a regular basis, as well as separating business finances from personal finances.
