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Implementing a Digital Financial Management System and Simple
Balance-Sheet Recording to Strengthen Financial Literacy among
Culinary SMEs in City X
Andi
1
, Seandy Ginanjar
2*
, Slamet Riyadi
3
, Hajar Mukaromah
4
, Yeny Rokhilawati
5
1,2
Universitas Sultan ageng Tirtayasa
3
Institut Bisnis & Teknologi Al Washliyah
4
IAI An-Nawawi
5
Universitas Islam Ibrahimy
e-mail:
1
andiplg69@untirta.ac.id,
2*
seandy4@untirta.ac.id,
3
slamet.riyadi@um-
tapsel.ac.id,
4
hajarmukaromah90@gmail.com,
5
yeniwati3103@gmail.com
Abstract
This study examines how an integrated digital financial management system and
simplified balance-sheet routine can strengthen financial literacy among culinary
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in City X. Because no primary interviews,
observations, or enterprise records were supplied, the study adopts a qualitative
documentary design rather than claiming a completed field intervention. The evidence
corpus combines Indonesian regulatory and survey documents, accounting standards,
international guidance, and recent empirical studies on digital accounting and SME
finance. Directed qualitative content analysis was applied to identify mechanisms
linking digital transaction capture, business–household fund separation, periodic
reconciliation, and balance-sheet interpretation with financial knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and behaviour. The analysis identifies five mutually reinforcing
mechanisms: transaction visibility, classification discipline, accounting-equation
comprehension, evidence-based decision routines, and digital-risk awareness.
National data also reveal that financial inclusion continues to exceed financial literacy,
indicating that access to digital finance does not automatically generate managerial
capability. A staged implementation model is proposed: diagnostic assessment,
account separation, digital capture, weekly reconciliation, monthly statement
preparation, and reflective review. The study contributes a context-sensitive
framework that treats technology and simplified accounting as a combined learning
infrastructure rather than isolated tools. Field-based multiple-case research is required
before outcome claims can be made for City X.
Keywords: digital financial management; financial literacy; culinary SMEs; simple
balance sheet
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Introduction
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises occupy a central place in Indonesia’s
urban economic system, while culinary businesses are among the most visible forms
of household-based and owner-managed enterprise. Their operational
characteristics—high transaction frequency, mixed cash and digital receipts,
perishable inventory, daily purchasing, informal labour, and close interaction between
household and business expenditure—make financial management both essential and
difficult. A culinary SME can appear commercially active because sales occur every
day, yet the owner may still be unable to distinguish revenue from cash balance, gross
margin from net income, or business assets from personal possessions. Under these
conditions, weak records are not merely an administrative deficiency; they restrict the
owner’s ability to evaluate liquidity, pricing, inventory loss, debt capacity, and
business continuity (Yanthi et al., 2026).
Indonesia’s expanding digital-payment infrastructure intensifies this issue. Bank
Indonesia defines the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) as a national
standard intended to make QR-code transactions faster, convenient, affordable, secure,
and reliable; it also positions QRIS as an entry point for MSMEs into the digital
ecosystem and financial inclusion. Digital payments generate transaction traces that
can potentially improve documentation, but the existence of a trace does not itself
produce an accounting record. Funds may be split across cash drawers, bank accounts,
electronic wallets, marketplaces, and delivery platforms, while platform fees and
settlement delays create differences between recorded sales and cash received. Unless
these flows are consolidated and classified, digitalization can increase the number of
information channels without improving the quality of financial understanding.
The distinction between financial access and financial capability is visible in national
survey data. The 2024 National Survey of Financial Literacy and Inclusion, jointly
conducted by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Statistics Indonesia (BPS),
reported a financial-literacy index of 65.43% and a financial-inclusion index of 75.02%.
The 2025 survey reported respective indices of 66.46% and 80.51%, based on the
continuity methodology. Thus, while both indicators improved, inclusion increased
considerably faster than literacy. The gap is analytically important: an entrepreneur
can hold an account, accept QR payments, use mobile banking, or access credit while
still lacking the knowledge and behavioural routines required to manage those
services productively (Rahman & Rachma, 2025).
Financial literacy is broader than familiarity with financial products. The OECD
defines it as a combination of awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours
required to make sound financial decisions and achieve financial well-being. OJK’s
national measurement similarly covers knowledge, skills, confidence or beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviour concerning financial products and services. For SME owners,
these dimensions must be translated from personal finance into enterprise practice.
Knowledge includes understanding assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses,
margins, and cash flow. Skill includes recording, reconciling, classifying, calculating,
and interpreting. Attitude concerns discipline, prudence, willingness to delay
withdrawals, and openness to evidence. Behaviour appears in repeated practices such
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as separating funds, retaining documentation, preparing budgets, checking balances,
and reviewing performance.
A simple balance sheet—more formally, a statement of financial position—provides a
compact structure for linking these dimensions. The Indonesian SAK EMKM
framework states that a statement of financial position presents assets, liabilities, and
equity at the end of a reporting period and may include cash and cash equivalents,
receivables, inventory, fixed assets, trade payables, bank debt, and equity. The
framework also emphasizes the business-entity concept, under which the owner must
separate personal wealth from the assets and results of the enterprise. This
requirement is especially relevant to culinary SMEs because owner withdrawals,
household purchases, business inventory, kitchen equipment, and personal property
frequently overlap (Lee, 2025).
However, merely teaching owners the accounting equation is unlikely to transform
practice. Conventional training often delivers concepts in a workshop without
embedding them in the entrepreneur’s daily workflow. Conversely, installing an
accounting application without conceptual learning may result in incomplete input,
misclassification, abandoned use, or uncritical dependence on software-generated
outputs. Recent Indonesian evidence suggests that digital financial literacy, perceived
usefulness, and perceived ease of use are positively associated with digital-accounting
adoption. Other research reports that technology, organizational conditions, and
environmental factors affect digital-accounting use, with digital literacy shaping part
of the adoption process.
These studies imply that effective implementation must combine usable technology,
relevant accounting categories, guided practice, and organizational habit formation.
The culinary context adds sector-specific demands. Sales can originate from dine-in
customers, takeaway orders, catering, marketplace applications, and social-media
channels. Costs include ingredients, packaging, cooking fuel, delivery subsidies,
platform commissions, spoilage, employee payments, and equipment maintenance. A
system designed for a trading or professional-service SME may therefore be unsuitable
if it does not accommodate daily sales batches, ingredient purchases, inventory
consumption, and multiple settlement channels. Simplicity is necessary, but excessive
simplification can erase economically important distinctions. The design problem is to
identify the minimum information architecture that owners can sustain and that still
supports meaningful decisions (Anggraini et al., 2025).
The phrase “digital financial management system” in this study therefore refers to an
integrated routine rather than a particular commercial application. Its components are:
standardized transaction capture; classification of receipts, payments, assets,
liabilities, and owner transactions; reconciliation of cash and digital channels; secure
document retention; periodic reporting; and managerial review. This definition
prevents technological determinism. A spreadsheet, mobile bookkeeping application,
or cloud platform can support the routine, but no tool substitutes for accurate source
data, owner engagement, internal controls, and interpretation.
Likewise, “simple balance-sheet recording” does not mean an isolated table produced
once for a financing application. It means a recurring process through which the SME
identifies what it controls, what it owes, and the residual claim of the owner at a
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specific date. IFRS for SMEs describes financial position as the relationship among
assets, liabilities, and equity and explains that the statement of financial position
presents these elements at the end of a reporting period. Although many culinary
microenterprises do not need the complexity of international reporting, the underlying
logic is valuable: every financing decision, equipment purchase, inventory
accumulation, debt repayment, and owner withdrawal changes the enterprise’s
financial position (Fujianti et al., 2025).
The problem addressed by this article is a misalignment among access, records, and
learning. First, digital access expands faster than financial capability. Second,
transaction records are fragmented across channels. Third, accounting education is
frequently separated from the operational moment in which knowledge is used.
Fourth, SMEs may judge performance from cash on hand without recognizing unpaid
obligations, declining inventory, equipment consumption, or owner withdrawals.
Fifth, empirical studies in Indonesia are dominated by cross-sectional quantitative
models that estimate relationships among literacy, technology adoption, reporting
quality, and perceived performance; they provide useful associations but less detail
about the mechanisms through which owners learn from repeated recordkeeping.
A qualitative approach is appropriate because the focal issue concerns process,
meaning, routines, and contextual fit rather than the estimation of a population effect.
The inquiry asks how a combined digital-and-accounting practice can make financial
concepts visible in everyday operations, what barriers may interrupt adoption, and
which design principles are defensible for culinary SMEs. Nevertheless, research
integrity requires a clear boundary. No interview transcripts, field notes, pre–post
assessments, or enterprise ledgers from City X were supplied. City X is therefore
retained as an anonymized application context, and the evidence reported here comes
from documentary analysis. The article does not claim that named participants
experienced improvement or that a completed intervention caused measurable
outcomes (Muhammad Mubushar et al., 2025).
The study pursues four objectives. First, it identifies the conceptual and practical
mechanisms through which digital transaction management and simple balance-sheet
preparation can support financial literacy. Second, it synthesizes Indonesian
institutional requirements and recent evidence relevant to SME digital accounting.
Third, it develops a staged implementation architecture tailored to the transaction
patterns of culinary enterprises. Fourth, it establishes qualitative indicators and data
requirements for a later field-based evaluation in City X. These objectives shift the
contribution from a generic recommendation to an auditable design proposition.
The study offers three contributions. Conceptually, it links financial literacy to
accounting practice by treating literacy as a capability enacted through recurring
routines rather than as knowledge measured only through a questionnaire.
Methodologically, it demonstrates how regulatory documents, standards, national
survey results, and empirical studies can be integrated through directed qualitative
content analysis without fabricating local evidence. Practically, it proposes a minimum
viable financial-management cycle that local government agencies, SME associations,
universities, and financial-service providers can adapt for culinary businesses. The
resulting framework remains provisional until tested through observations,
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interviews, and enterprise records, but it provides a rigorous foundation for such
testing (Sulhan, 2025).
Method
Research Design
The study adopts an interpretive qualitative approach, drawing on principles of meta-
synthesis and thematic analysis to organize diverse qualitative and mixed-method
findings into coherent themes. Meta-synthesis is appropriate when multiple small-
scale studies exist on a phenomenon but have not yet been integrated into a conceptual
framework, allowing the researcher to reinterpret and extend primary findings. In this
case, the phenomenon of interest is technology-based learning mentoring aimed at
enhancing motivation among elementary students in disadvantaged Indonesian
regions (Creswell, 2021).
Data Sources and Sampling
Data sources consisted of peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and policy
documents accessible through major indexing services and national repositories
focusing on Indonesian education and technology. Specific inclusion criteria were: (1)
studies conducted in Indonesian elementary schools; (2) use of technology-based
learning media (e.g., videos, interactive applications, educational games, AR, ICT
platforms); (3) examination of student motivation, engagement, or related learning
outcomes; and (4) relevance to disadvantaged or resource-constrained contexts,
including explicit references to 3T or rural schools.
Representative studies meeting these criteria included qualitative observations of
video-based learning in a rural elementary school, descriptive analyses of interactive
media use to enhance motivation, case studies of digital-based learning media
innovation in science and social science subjects, developmental research on AR-based
educational media, systematic literature reviews of technology-based learning media,
and policy-oriented discussions of ICT utilization models in 3T regions. Additional
conceptual and empirical literature on SDT and student motivation was incorporated
to provide theoretical grounding and interpretive lenses.
Data Collection Procedures
Data collection involved identifying relevant studies and documents using keyword
combinations such as “technology-based learning media,” “student motivation,”
“elementary school,” “Indonesia,” and “3T regions.” Searches were conducted in
major educational databases, open-access repositories, and institutional websites.
After screening titles and abstracts against inclusion criteria, full-text documents were
obtained where available. Key sections—such as study context, intervention
characteristics, reported outcomes related to motivation, and methodological details—
were extracted into analytic memos.
For SDT-related literature, seminal theoretical and meta-analytic works were retrieved
to clarify concepts of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and the motivation
continuum, as well as to understand how these constructs have been operationalized
in educational contexts. These texts provided a conceptual scaffold for coding and
interpreting findings from the Indonesian technology-based learning studies.
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Data Analysis
Data analysis followed an iterative thematic approach. First, descriptive coding was
applied to each study to capture basic information about technology type, pedagogical
practices, context (urban vs. rural; disadvantaged vs. resource-rich), and reported
motivational or learning outcomes. Second, analytic coding focused on how
technology use related to SDT needs: codes such as “autonomy support,” “competence
building,” “relatedness enhancement,” “controlled motivation,” and “amotivation
risks” were used to categorize passages describing student experiences and teacher
practices.
Third, cross-study comparisons were conducted to identify recurring patterns and
contextual variations. For instance, studies in rural or resource-constrained settings
were compared to those in more advantaged schools to see whether similar
motivational benefits occurred and what adaptations were required. Themes emerging
from this process were grouped into higher-order categories representing key
dimensions of technology-based learning mentoring in disadvantaged elementary
contexts, such as “technology-mediated autonomy scaffolding,” “competence-focused
digital practice,” “relationship-centered mentoring through technology,” and
“infrastructure and capacity constraints.”
Throughout analysis, attention was paid to maintaining fidelity to primary authors’
interpretations while also re-contextualizing their findings in light of SDT and the
specific focus on disadvantaged regions. The meta-synthesis thus generated a
conceptual model rather than statistical generalizations, consistent with the qualitative
orientation of the study.
To enhance trustworthiness, several strategies were employed. Triangulation was
achieved by drawing on multiple types of sources—empirical case studies,
developmental projects, systematic reviews, and policy documents—representing
different perspectives on technology use in elementary education. Theoretical
triangulation was provided by combining SDT with context-specific understandings
of Indonesian educational policy and 3T initiatives.
Analytic rigor was supported by explicit documentation of coding categories and
analytic decisions, ensuring that the move from descriptive codes to thematic
interpretations could be traced. Reflexivity was maintained by recognizing that the
present analysis does not involve direct fieldwork and is therefore limited by the scope
and quality of available published studies. Rather than claiming exhaustive coverage,
the article positions its findings as a grounded yet provisional model to be tested and
refined in future empirical researchResearch design
The study employed a qualitative documentary design with directed content analysis.
This design was selected because the research problem concerns institutional rules,
implementation mechanisms, and patterns across existing evidence, while no primary
dataset from City X was available. Directed analysis begins with sensitizing concepts
derived from established frameworks—in this case financial knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and behaviour; digital adoption; the business-entity concept; and the
elements of financial position—and then allows additional themes to emerge from the
documents. The design is interpretive rather than causal. It seeks a defensible
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explanation of how and under what conditions an intervention may work, not an
estimate of its average effect.
City X functions as an anonymized application setting. The article assumes an urban
Indonesian context in which culinary SMEs receive cash and digital payments, but it
does not attribute demographic, economic, or behavioural characteristics to an
unidentified municipality. This boundary preserves transferability without inventing
local facts. Before journal submission as a completed field study, the author must
replace the documentary design with verified site information or retain the present
subtitle and explicitly present the work as documentary research.
Corpus construction
The corpus was constructed purposively rather than statistically. Documents were
included when they met at least one of five criteria: they defined financial literacy;
reported recent Indonesian literacy or inclusion data; specified accounting
requirements for SMEs; described the national digital-payment infrastructure; or
presented recent empirical evidence on digital accounting, financial literacy, reporting
quality, or SME performance in Indonesia. Priority was given to primary institutional
sources from OJK, BPS, Bank Indonesia, the Indonesian Institute of Accountants, the
OECD, and the IFRS Foundation. Peer-reviewed or formally published Indonesian
studies were then used to compare empirical patterns and identify implementation
factors.
The core institutional documents comprised the OJK–BPS SNLIK releases for 2024 and
2025, Bank Indonesia’s QRIS guidance, IAI’s SAK EMKM materials, the OECD
financial-literacy framework, and IFRS for SMEs guidance. The empirical layer
included studies from Medan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Bali, Sleman,
Surakarta, Bandung, and conceptual work focused on Jakarta. The geographic
diversity was useful for analytic transfer, but it does not establish representativeness
for City X. Documents published or available through 2026 were considered, with
emphasis on recent evidence while retaining authoritative standards.
Analytical procedure
Analysis proceeded in six stages. First, each document was read for its purpose, unit
of analysis, definitions, method, and key conclusions. Second, relevant passages were
extracted into an evidence matrix. Third, passages were coded against the initial
categories: financial-literacy dimension; digital function; accounting function;
adoption condition; decision outcome; risk; and institutional support. Fourth, open
coding was used to capture recurrent ideas not fully represented in the initial
framework, including fragmented transaction channels, owner–business fund mixing,
reconciliation, habit formation, and minimum sufficient complexity. Fifth, codes were
compared across institutional and empirical sources to identify convergence,
qualification, and contradiction. Sixth, themes were translated into an implementation
sequence and proposed field indicators.
Coding treated the document, not an individual entrepreneur, as the unit of evidence.
References to “owners” in the results describe mechanisms reported or implied by the
corpus, not statements made by City X participants. Theme counts, where shown,
indicate how many selected evidence groups supported a theme. They are descriptive
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aids and must not be interpreted as effect sizes, prevalence estimates, or statistical
significance.
The primary interpretive question was: How can a digital financial-management
routine, combined with simple balance-sheet recording, create repeated learning
opportunities that strengthen the financial capability of culinary SME owners? Three
subsidiary questions guided analysis: (1) Which information and behavioural gaps
should the system address? (2) What implementation conditions enable or constrain
sustained use? (3) Which observable indicators should be collected in a later field study
to assess change without overstating causality?
Quality and trustworthiness
Credibility was strengthened through source triangulation. Definitions and
requirements were anchored in institutional sources, while implementation
propositions were compared against multiple empirical studies. For example, the
proposition that ease of use matters was not accepted solely from a conceptual model;
it was checked against adoption research
. The proposition that digitalization does not automatically produce sustainability was
retained because empirical findings indicate that reporting quality can mediate
outcomes and that some digital variables lack a direct significant relationship with
sustainability. Negative or qualifying evidence was therefore treated as analytically
valuable.
Dependability was supported by an explicit code structure and staged procedure.
Confirmability was pursued by separating sourced findings from analytical
propositions. National percentages and accounting requirements are directly traceable
to official documents, whereas the six-stage implementation model is an interpretation
generated through synthesis. Transferability is addressed through a detailed
description of the proposed routine and the culinary operating context, allowing
researchers to judge whether it is relevant to another municipality or subsector.
A formal field study should add at least two coders for part of the transcript corpus,
maintain a coding audit trail, document code revisions, and conduct case-based
member reflection with participants. Mechanical inter-coder agreement should not
replace interpretive dialogue, but disagreement logs can reveal ambiguous categories.
Researchers should also compare interview claims against transaction records and
observation because self-reported literacy and actual practice may diverge.
Ethics and integrity
No human participants were recruited, no private enterprise records were accessed,
and no personal data were processed for this documentary study. Consequently, the
article contains no invented quotations, participant profiles, enterprise names, pre–
post scores, or local balance-sheet values. This is an important integrity condition.
Fabricated qualitative quotations or simulated company data would falsely imply
fieldwork and are unsuitable for journal submission.
A later intervention in City X would require informed consent, secure handling of
commercially sensitive records, controlled access to digital credentials, and an ethics
determination from the responsible institution. Participants should never be asked to
disclose passwords, personal identification numbers, one-time passwords, or
complete account credentials. Reports should anonymize enterprises, aggregate
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commercially sensitive figures where necessary, and define a retention and deletion
schedule. If trainers assist with application setup, role boundaries and data-access
permissions must be documented.
Proposed field extension
The documentary model is designed to support a future qualitative multiple-case
study. A defensible sample would use maximum-variation purposive selection across
enterprise scale, years of operation, payment-channel mix, owner gender, prior
bookkeeping experience, and degree of marketplace dependence. Sampling should
continue until additional cases no longer materially extend the explanatory themes,
rather than stopping at a predetermined number solely for convenience.
Data collection should combine owner interviews, employee interviews where
relevant, non-participant observation of closing and reconciliation routines,
screenshots or exports with sensitive details redacted, document review, and monthly
reflective meetings. A minimum intervention window of three monthly closing cycles
would allow researchers to observe initial adoption, breakdown, correction, and
emerging habit. Outcome language should remain cautious: qualitative evidence can
support claims about perceived learning, changed routines, and plausible
mechanisms, but not population-wide causal effects.
Analytical boundaries
The method has four limitations. First, it cannot verify the actual financial literacy,
digital readiness, or reporting practice of culinary SMEs in City X. Second, publication
bias may favour studies reporting positive technology relationships. Third, studies use
different constructs and outcome measures, reducing direct comparability. Fourth,
documentary analysis can specify a plausible implementation theory but cannot
establish usability under local infrastructure, language, cost, or time constraints. These
boundaries are carried into the interpretation of results.
Result and Discussion
National capability gap
The documentary analysis first identified a persistent gap between access to financial
services and the capability to use them. Table 1 presents the latest directly comparable
SNLIK figures used in this study. Financial literacy rose from 65.43% in 2024 to 66.46%
in 2025, an increase of 1.03 percentage points, while financial inclusion rose from
75.02% to 80.51%, an increase of 5.49 percentage points. The literacy–inclusion gap
therefore widened from 9.59 to 14.05 percentage points. These national indices are not
measurements of City X or culinary SMEs, but they establish the policy relevance of
interventions that connect access with capability.
Table 1. Indonesian financial-literacy and financial-inclusion indices
Survey year
Financial literacy
Financial inclusion
Inclusion minus literacy
2024
65.43%
75.02%
9.59 percentage points
2025
66.46%
80.51%
14.05 percentage points
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Evidence structure
The second result was a consistent distinction between infrastructure, adoption,
reporting, and outcome. Bank Indonesia’s QRIS infrastructure standardizes payment
acceptance, but it does not prepare accounting statements. Adoption studies show that
usefulness, ease of use, literacy, organizational conditions, and environmental support
shape whether SMEs use digital accounting. Reporting studies indicate that higher-
quality information can mediate the relationship between digital tools and
sustainability. The evidence therefore forms a sequence rather than a single direct
pathway: infrastructure enables data capture; adoption determines use; accounting
routines transform transactions into information; interpretation supports decisions;
and decisions may contribute to resilience.
Table 2. Documentary Evidence Matrix
Evidence
source
Design or authority
Core finding used in
this study
OJK–BPS
SNLIK 2024
National survey,
10,800 respondents
Literacy 65.43%;
inclusion 75.02%
OJK–BPS
SNLIK 2025
National survey,
10,800 respondents
Literacy 66.46%;
inclusion 80.51%
Bank
Indonesia
QRIS
Payment-system
authority
QRIS standardizes
interoperable QR
payments and
supports MSME
inclusion
IAI SAK
EMKM
Indonesian
accounting standard
Position statement
includes assets,
liabilities, and equity;
entity separation is
fundamental
South
Sulawesi
adoption
study
Survey of 155
MSMEs
Literacy, usefulness,
and ease of use
positively influence
digital-accounting
adoption
Medan
digital-
accounting
study
Survey of 95 MSMEs
Technology,
organization, and
environment influence
use
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Evidence
source
Design or authority
Core finding used in
this study
North
Sumatra
study
Cross-sectional
survey of 200
owners/managers
Digital-accounting use
relates positively to
reporting quality,
literacy, and perceived
performance
Bali
reporting
study
Survey of 100 MSME
actors
Reporting quality
links literacy and
digital systems with
sustainability; not all
direct digital effects
are significant
Surakarta
cake-
industry
study
Quantitative survey
Literacy was
positively related to
performance; digital
payments alone were
not significant
Table 2 shows that the evidence is convergent but not uniform. Most studies support
a positive role for literacy or digital accounting, yet the Bali and Surakarta findings
qualify direct-effect claims. These qualifications strengthened the emerging
interpretation that the combined routine—not payment technology in isolation—is the
relevant intervention unit.
Five learning mechanisms
Five mechanisms emerged from the directed and open coding. The first was
transaction visibility. Digital receipts and structured entries make transactions
retrievable, date-stamped, and classifiable. Visibility reduces dependence on memory
and creates a basis for checking discrepancies. For culinary businesses, visibility must
extend across cash, QRIS, bank transfer, marketplace settlement, and e-wallet
channels. A system that records only QRIS receipts remains incomplete because cash
sales, platform deductions, and supplier payments can materially alter the daily
position.
The second mechanism was classification discipline. Recording requires the owner to
assign each event to a category. This act converts abstract financial concepts into
repeated decisions: a refrigerator is an asset rather than an ingredient expense; owner
cash introduced into the business is capital rather than sales; a withdrawal for
household consumption is an owner drawing rather than operating cost; supplier
credit creates inventory and a payable. Misclassification can initially expose
knowledge gaps, which then become teachable moments.
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The third mechanism was accounting-equation comprehension. A simple balance
sheet makes visible that acquiring an asset does not always reduce equity: a debt-
financed equipment purchase increases both assets and liabilities. Repaying loan
principal reduces cash and liabilities but is not the same as an operating expense. Profit
can increase equity even when cash is tied up in receivables or inventory. These
relationships help owners move beyond “cash remaining” as the sole indicator of
performance.
The fourth mechanism was evidence-based decision routine. Reports produce value
only when reviewed. Weekly reconciliation supports operational control, while
monthly balance-sheet and income-statement review supports pricing, purchasing,
debt, withdrawal, and investment decisions. The review should ask a small set of
stable questions: Is cash consistent with records? Which channel generated the
strongest net contribution after fees? Is inventory increasing faster than sales? Which
obligations fall due before expected receipts? Can the business afford an owner
withdrawal without weakening working capital?
The fifth mechanism was digital-risk awareness. Digital financial literacy includes safe
and effective use, not only transaction speed. A management system introduces risks
relating to password sharing, phishing, unauthorized access, device loss, data backup,
and privacy. Security instructions must therefore be integrated into bookkeeping
training. A technically accurate ledger built on unsafe credential practices would not
represent improved financial capability.
Table 3. Thematic synthesis and observable indicators
Theme
Mechanism
Evidence base
Proposed field
indicator
Transaction
visibility
Consolidates
fragmented
payment evidence
QRIS
infrastructure and
digital-accounting
Share of sales
channels
reconciled weekly
Classification
discipline
Converts concepts
into repeated
categorization
SAK EMKM and
reporting-quality
evidence
Correct
classification of
sampled
transactions
Entity separation
Distinguishes
owner and
enterprise
resources
IAI business-entity
requirement
Separate
account/cash box
and identifiable
drawings
Accounting-
equation
comprehension
Links events to
assets, liabilities,
and equity
IAI and IFRS
guidance
Owner can explain
the effect of
common
transactions
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Theme
Mechanism
Evidence base
Proposed field
indicator
Decision routine
Converts reports
into managerial
action
Literacy–
behaviour
framework and
SME evidence
Documented
monthly decisions
based on reports
Digital-risk
awareness
Protects data,
funds, and
continuity
Digital-financial-
literacy literature
Use of access
controls, backup,
and credential
rules
Table 3 converts themes into indicators suitable for later qualitative fieldwork. The
indicators are behavioural and documentary rather than solely perceptual. For
example, an owner’s claim that funds are separated should be compared with account
structure and transaction samples. Similarly, conceptual understanding should be
examined through scenario questions rather than self-rating alone.
Minimum balance-sheet architecture
The analysis produced a minimum balance-sheet architecture aligned with SAK
EMKM. IAI identifies cash and cash equivalents, receivables, inventory, fixed assets,
trade payables, bank debt, and equity as relevant line items
. For culinary SMEs, the categories should be translated into familiar operational
language without changing their accounting meaning. Digital-wallet and
marketplace-settlement balances can be grouped with cash equivalents only when
they are readily available; unsettled or restricted amounts may require separate
tracking for operational clarity.
Table 4. Proposed simple statement of financial position for a culinary SME
Section
Minimum line
item
Culinary-business
interpretation
Supporting
record
Current
assets
Cash on hand
Till and petty cash
counted at closing
Cash-count sheet
Current
assets
Bank and e-wallet
balances
Business accounts used for
receipts and payments
Statements or
exports
Current
assets
Settlement
receivables
Amounts due from
marketplaces or delivery
platforms
Platform
settlement report
Current
assets
Trade receivables
Unpaid catering or
customer invoices
Receivables list
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Section
Minimum line
item
Culinary-business
interpretation
Supporting
record
Current
assets
Inventory
Ingredients, beverages,
and packaging on hand
Count sheet and
purchase
evidence
Non-
current
assets
Equipment and
furniture
Stoves, refrigerators,
display units, tables, and
delivery equipment
Asset register
Current
liabilities
Trade payables
Unpaid supplier invoices
Payables list
Current
liabilities
Accrued
obligations
Wages, utilities, rent, or
taxes incurred but unpaid
Obligation
schedule
Financing
liabilities
Bank or other
business debt
Outstanding principal for
enterprise financing
Loan statement
Equity
Owner capital and
accumulated
results
Owner contributions plus
retained results less
drawings
Capital and
drawings record
Table 4 is a schema, not a fabricated enterprise statement. No monetary values are
presented because no City X ledger was provided. In a field intervention, each figure
must be traceable to a supporting record, count, statement, or defensible estimate. The
balance sheet should reconcile to the accounting equation, while a separate income
statement captures revenue and expense for the period.
Staged implementation model
The fifth result was a six-stage implementation sequence. Stage 1, diagnostic mapping,
identifies payment channels, recordkeeping practices, account ownership, recurring
obligations, user skills, device access, and the owner’s decisions. The output is a one-
page process map, not a literacy score alone. This stage prevents trainers from
installing tools that do not match actual workflows.
Stage 2, entity and account separation, establishes a designated business cash box and,
where feasible, a business bank or e-wallet arrangement. Opening assets, liabilities,
and owner capital are identified. Personal transactions that pass through the business
system are coded transparently as drawings or contributions rather than hidden in
operating categories. This stage operationalizes IAI’s business-entity principle
Stage 3, minimum viable digital capture, introduces a limited chart of accounts and
daily sales batches by channel. Receipts and payments are entered or imported,
evidence is photographed or stored, and consistent naming rules are applied. The
application should be selected based on usability, exportability, offline resilience
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where relevant, cost, access control, and compatibility with existing devices—not
brand popularity.
Stage 4, weekly reconciliation, compares recorded sales and expenses against cash
counts, bank movements, QRIS settlements, platform reports, and outstanding
receivables or payables. Differences are investigated and logged. Reconciliation is the
control point that distinguishes bookkeeping from mere data entry. It also reveals
settlement delays, duplicate entries, omitted cash sales, unrecorded fees, and personal
withdrawals.
Stage 5, monthly statement preparation, closes the period, counts inventory, updates
receivables and payables, reviews equipment changes, prepares a simple income
statement and statement of financial position, and checks that assets equal liabilities
plus equity. The first months should prioritize completeness and interpretability
rather than sophisticated accrual adjustments. Complexity can be added after the
routine stabilizes.
Stage 6, reflective decision review, converts reports into action. The owner and
facilitator document at least one operational and one financial decision, the evidence
used, expected consequence, and date for review. Examples include renegotiating a
supplier term, revising menu price, limiting drawings, reducing slow-moving stock,
changing payment-channel promotion, or postponing equipment finance. This stage
closes the learning loop between data and behaviour.
Table 5. Six-stage implementation and evidence trail
Stage
Core activity
Immediate output
Literacy
dimension
1. Diagnostic
mapping
Map channels,
records, obligations,
and decisions
Baseline process map
Knowledge
and confidence
2. Entity
separation
Separate funds;
establish opening
position
Opening balance
sheet and owner-
transaction rule
Attitude and
behaviour
3. Digital
capture
Record transactions
with evidence
Searchable daily
ledger
Skill
4.
Reconciliation
Match ledger to cash
and digital statements
Difference log and
corrections
Skill and
behaviour
5. Monthly
closing
Prepare income and
position statements
Monthly report
package
Knowledge
and skill
6. Reflective
review
Link reports to
documented decisions
Decision log
Attitude and
behaviour
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The sequence is intentionally cumulative. An enterprise should not be judged by
dashboard use before its payment channels and opening balances are understood. Nor
should the intervention begin with ratio analysis while owner and business funds
remain inseparable. The model treats discipline as a prerequisite for interpretation.
Adoption conditions and failure modes
Four enabling conditions were identified. First, the tool must be easy enough for daily
use and visibly relevant to owner decisions, consistent with Indonesian adoption
evidence. Second, a responsible person and a backup person should be named, even
in a family enterprise. Third, the system must allow data export and evidence retrieval
so that records do not become trapped in an application. Fourth, periodic mentoring
should shift from trainer-led correction to owner-led explanation, supporting self-
efficacy and habit formation
The analysis also identified recurrent failure modes. Data-entry abandonment occurs
when the chart of accounts is too detailed or the owner cannot see immediate benefit.
Digital fragmentation occurs when the bookkeeping application records some
channels but ignores cash or marketplaces. False accuracy occurs when a polished
report is generated from incomplete or misclassified entries. Household leakage
occurs when personal spending remains hidden within business expense. Report non-
use occurs when monthly statements are produced but no decisions are recorded.
Security exposure occurs when convenience leads to shared credentials or
uncontrolled device access.
These failure modes indicate that adoption should not be measured only by login
frequency or application installation. Sustained capability is better represented by
completeness, reconciliation, classification accuracy, owner explanation, decision use,
and security practice. The result is a process-based conception of financial literacy: the
owner demonstrates literacy through what the enterprise repeatedly does with
financial information.
Discussion
From access to capability
The primary interpretation is that digital financial infrastructure creates a necessary
but insufficient condition for SME financial capability. QRIS and other channels
improve transaction convenience and can generate electronic traces
, yet the national data show that financial inclusion remains substantially higher than
literacy. The intervention proposed here addresses the gap by placing an interpretive
layer between transaction access and managerial action. Digital data become
educationally valuable only after they are consolidated, classified, reconciled, and
discussed (Yanthi et al., 2026).
This interpretation helps explain mixed empirical findings. If digital payments are
measured as an independent capability, their relationship with performance may
appear weak or inconsistent, as reported in the Surakarta cake-industry study.
Payment services can increase convenience or sales opportunity, but they can also
introduce fees, delayed settlements, refunds, and fragmented accounts. When the
owner lacks a reconciliation process, more digital transactions may create more
records without producing better information. The relevant mechanism is therefore
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not “digital payment leads to performance” but “digital payment data, when
integrated with accounting and decision routines, can strengthen information quality
and managerial control.”
The Bali evidence provides a complementary insight: reporting quality can mediate
relationships involving digital banking and accounting systems, while some direct
paths to sustainability are not significant. This supports the sequence identified in the
results. Technology influences outcomes through intermediate organizational
capabilities. A training programme that measures only application adoption may
therefore declare success too early. The stronger question is whether adoption
produces timely, complete, understandable, and decision-relevant information (Idrus
& Rastina, 2025).
Accounting as experiential learning
The second interpretation is that bookkeeping can function as experiential financial
education. Financial literacy frameworks commonly distinguish knowledge,
behaviour, and attitudes, but implementation programmes often teach these
dimensions separately. The proposed model integrates them in a single cycle.
Classification uses knowledge; entry and reconciliation require skill; fund separation
and regular closing express attitude; and repeated review establishes behaviour.
Learning is embedded in operational work rather than appended as a classroom
exercise.
The balance sheet is particularly useful because it challenges cash-based intuition.
Culinary SME owners may see a strong bank balance and infer profitability even when
supplier obligations are unpaid. They may interpret an equipment purchase as an
immediate operating loss or treat loan proceeds as income. Preparing a statement of
financial position makes obligations, resources, and residual ownership visible at the
same date. When paired with an income statement, it clarifies why profit, cash, and
equity move differently (Putri & Piatrini, 2026).
The educational benefit does not depend on technical terminology alone. Indeed,
excessive jargon may undermine confidence. What matters is conceptual accuracy
expressed in operational language. “Money owed by catering customers” can
introduce receivables; “supplier invoices not yet paid” can introduce payables; “owner
money taken for household use” can introduce drawings. Over time, formal
terminology can be layered onto these meanings. This progression is consistent with
minimum sufficient complexity: simplification should reduce cognitive burden
without distorting the transaction.
Entity separation as mechanism
The business-entity concept emerged as the central behavioural mechanism. IAI
explicitly requires separation of personal and enterprise wealth for entities applying
SAK EMKM. In practice, separation improves more than formal compliance. It makes
revenue measurable, preserves working capital, clarifies drawings, improves debt
assessment, and allows the owner to compare periods. Without it, even accurate
transaction entry cannot reliably distinguish enterprise performance from household
consumption (Azka Syifaul Maula et al., 2026).
Separation should not be presented as a binary condition that only formally
incorporated businesses can achieve. A microenterprise can begin with a designated
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cash box, a dedicated sub-account where permitted, a rule for owner withdrawals, and
a weekly transfer policy. The crucial feature is traceability. If a personal account must
temporarily receive business funds, transactions should still be marked as business
receipts and personal movements should be coded transparently. The intervention
should recognize constraints while moving progressively toward cleaner boundaries.
This mechanism also has implications for owner identity. In many culinary businesses,
the owner views business cash as immediately available household income.
Reclassification of withdrawals may initially feel restrictive or artificial. Trainers
should therefore explain that separation does not deny ownership; it enables the
owner to see whether withdrawals are supported by earnings and liquidity. The
behavioural objective is not accounting purity but informed control.
Technology selection
The findings reject a software-first approach. Adoption evidence emphasizes
perceived usefulness, ease of use, digital literacy, organizational conditions, and
environmental support. A suitable platform for City X should therefore be selected
after workflow diagnosis. Evaluation criteria should include: ability to record cash and
digital channels; customizable but limited categories; Indonesian-language usability;
export to common formats; attachment of evidence; user permissions; backup;
affordability; and the ability to prepare or support a simple income statement and
balance sheet (Ulfah et al., 2026).
Vendor lock-in is a material concern for small firms with limited bargaining power. If
transaction histories cannot be exported, migration becomes costly and the enterprise
may lose access when subscriptions lapse. Data portability is therefore part of financial
capability. A basic spreadsheet may be preferable to a sophisticated platform when
transaction volume is low and the owner can maintain controls. Conversely, a
spreadsheet may become unsafe or error-prone when multiple users, high transaction
volumes, and marketplace integrations are involved. Tool choice should follow
complexity, not aspiration.
Security must also be treated as a management process. Digital-financial-literacy
definitions emphasize safe and effective use. Practical controls include separate user
accounts, strong device locks, restricted permissions, regular backup, verification of
settlement accounts, and a prohibition on sharing one-time passwords. Training
evaluations should test whether participants can recognize social-engineering risks
and recover records after device loss, not merely whether they can enter a sale (Listiani
& Alliyah, 2026).
Sector-specific design
Culinary SMEs require a design that reflects perishable inventory and multichannel
sales. Weekly or monthly inventory counts provide an approximation of ingredients
and packaging on hand, but owners also need simple waste categories for spoilage,
production error, employee meals, and promotional samples. If all ingredient
purchases are treated as immediate expense without any closing inventory
adjustment, monthly margins may be distorted when stock levels change materially.
The sophistication of inventory measurement can increase gradually, but the system
should at least make stock movement discussable.
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Marketplace and delivery-platform settlements deserve separate reconciliation. Gross
customer order value may differ from the amount deposited because of commissions,
promotional contributions, delivery adjustments, refunds, and withholding.
Recording only the net deposit understates sales and conceals channel cost. For
managerial purposes, the owner should see gross channel revenue, platform-related
deductions, and net settlement. This information supports pricing and channel
decisions even when the statutory reporting format is simple (Rono et al., 2026).
High-frequency low-value transactions also justify batch recording. Requiring every
cash sale to be entered manually may produce fatigue and abandonment. A daily sales
summary supported by point-of-sale totals, order sheets, or numbered receipts can be
appropriate, while large catering invoices and credit transactions should remain
individually identifiable. The principle is proportional evidence: sufficient detail for
control and decision-making without imposing an unsustainable burden.
Interpretation of improvement
The title refers to strengthening financial literacy, but improvement should not be
reduced to a single post-training score. A comprehensive evaluation should examine
at least four domains. Cognitive change concerns whether the owner can explain key
concepts and transaction effects. Procedural change concerns whether records are
complete, timely, and reconciled. Behavioural change concerns separation, regular
closing, planning, and security. Decision change concerns whether reports inform
documented choices.
Qualitative evidence can establish plausible contribution when changes align
temporally with the intervention, participants explain the mechanism, records
corroborate new routines, and alternative explanations are considered. For example, if
an owner begins weekly reconciliation after training, identifies previously unnoticed
platform deductions, and changes menu prices based on the documented cost, the
chain provides credible process evidence. It still does not prove that the intervention
alone caused improved profitability. Market demand, input prices, seasonality, and
other support programmes may also contribute (Mardiyani et al., 2026).
A later study could strengthen inference with an embedded mixed-method design.
Standardized literacy items could be administered before and after the programme,
while ledger completeness, reconciliation differences, report timeliness, and decision
logs provide behavioural evidence. Comparison cases or staggered implementation
could improve attribution. However, such additions must not displace qualitative
analysis of why owners adopt, adapt, or abandon the routine.
Institutional implications
Local government agencies should move beyond one-off seminars and subsidized
application access. The six-stage model suggests a mentoring architecture organized
around closing cycles. A facilitator’s role is to help the enterprise map flows, establish
separation, correct classifications, reconcile channels, prepare statements, and
interpret results. Completion should be defined by demonstrated routines and an
evidence trail rather than attendance.
Universities can contribute through supervised accounting clinics. Students, under
professional and ethical oversight, can assist with opening-balance reconstruction,
transaction coding, and monthly review while documenting implementation barriers.
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Such programmes must protect confidentiality and avoid using unverified SME
figures in publications. Standardized templates and anonymized process data can
support learning without exposing commercially sensitive information.
Financial-service providers and bookkeeping vendors should design interoperable
outputs. Because QRIS is intended as an inclusion gateway, merchant interfaces could
make settlement data easier to export and classify. Providers should disclose fees and
settlement timing clearly. Bookkeeping systems should support import of
standardized transaction files, but automatic classification should remain reviewable;
opaque automation may reproduce errors at scale.
SME associations can support peer learning. Owners may be more willing to maintain
routines when examples are sector-specific and when peers discuss concrete decisions
rather than abstract accounting rules. Peer sessions can compare methods for daily
sales batches, inventory counts, marketplace reconciliation, and drawings policies
without requiring disclosure of full financial statements. This arrangement supports
habit formation and normalizes financial discipline.
Theoretical contribution
The study proposes an access–record–interpret–act model. Access refers to
participation in financial and payment systems. Record refers to the structured capture
and classification of transactions. Interpret refers to reconciliation, statement
preparation, and explanation of relationships among cash, profit, assets, liabilities, and
equity. Act refers to decisions and repeated behaviours. Financial literacy is
strengthened not at a single point but through movement across the entire cycle.
This model extends technology-acceptance reasoning by specifying what happens
after adoption. Perceived usefulness and ease of use help explain initial use, but
sustained value depends on data quality, controls, and interpretation. It also extends
conventional literacy frameworks by identifying accounting artefacts—the ledger,
reconciliation sheet, balance sheet, income statement, and decision log—as mediating
learning devices. These artefacts make knowledge actionable and behaviour
observable.
The model further explains why direct relationships between digitalization and
sustainability may be inconsistent. If any link in the chain is weak, access may not
become action. A business can accept digital payments but fail to record fees; it can
maintain a ledger but never reconcile; it can produce reports but not understand them;
or it can understand reports but continue uncontrolled withdrawals. The intervention
must therefore diagnose the weakest link rather than assume a uniform literacy deficit.
Limitations and agenda
The documentary design cannot establish that the proposed model improves literacy
among actual culinary SMEs in City X. The framework should be treated as a
theoretically and institutionally grounded proposition. Local language, digital
connectivity, owner education, enterprise scale, gendered control of finances, and
platform dependence may change implementation. Field research must be open to
mechanisms not identified here.
The evidence base also contains many quantitative cross-sectional studies and
relatively limited longitudinal qualitative work. Positive associations may reflect self-
selection: more capable enterprises may be more likely to adopt digital accounting.
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Perceived performance can differ from verified financial outcomes. Future research
should combine transaction records with interviews and observation, examine
abandonment as well as adoption, and follow enterprises across multiple closing
periods.
Finally, a “simple” balance sheet can become misleading if simplification omits
material obligations or invents asset values. Opening balances should be reconstructed
cautiously, with uncertainty documented. Equipment values should follow the
applicable reporting basis; receivables should be reviewed for collectability; and
inventory counts should be supported by a consistent method. Facilitators must resist
the pressure to produce polished statements when source records are weak
Conclusion
This qualitative documentary study explains how digital financial management and
simplified balance-sheet recording can operate as an integrated learning infrastructure
for culinary SMEs. The proposed mechanism is sequential: digital channels create
transaction evidence; structured recording improves visibility; classification and fund
separation develop accounting discipline; reconciliation tests reliability; financial
statements organize meaning; and reflective review connects information with
behaviour and decisions. Indonesian national data show that financial inclusion
continues to exceed financial literacy, reinforcing the need to complement access with
capability-building. The analysis proposes six implementation stages: diagnostic
mapping, entity separation, minimum viable digital capture, weekly reconciliation,
monthly statement preparation, and reflective decision review. A system should be
evaluated through completeness, classification accuracy, reconciliation, owner
explanation, decision use, and digital-security practice—not installation alone. The
simple balance sheet must remain connected to an income statement and supporting
records, consistent with SAK EMKM principles.
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