• Significance of the Study

This study is anticipated to be of great relevance to the companies in the small and medium scale industries, other companies, prospective investors, owners and creditors of companies, the government and other policy makers and lastly to the researchers and academicians.
To the small and medium scale companies, the research will by its findings helps the possible consequences of the policies employed in the system of budgetary control on their performance.

Other firms can benefit from the findings of this study by adopting proper measures of budgeting and budgetary control to ensure efficient and effective utilization of available budget. The study, having examined the principle of budgeting; preparation, implementation and control, the other firms was in a better positioned in dealing with budgets and budgetary control matters.

To prospective investors it will show how effective the system is and by how much it contributes to more probability and growth.

To the owners and creditor, it will show how the managers of the companies are implementing the policies and how it affects the wealth generated in the business.

To government, it will show how those constraints imposed by the state are affecting the companies and whether to relax or further tighten such constraints. Also, the findings of this study will provide more insights to the government and other policy makers in setting policies that encourage other firms to use budgets as a performance evaluation tool.

Finally, Researchers and academicians interested in this area or other related topics can use the findings of this study to serve as a good source for further research. In addition, an examination of the various prerequisites of the budgeting system will enable the reader to better appreciate the use of budget in evaluating performance in relation to predetermined set goals of the organization. Furthermore, an exploration of the dangers and problems associated with budget will also enhance the reader’s knowledge in the use of budget as a performance standard.

• Scope of the Study

However, for the purpose of meaningful and convenient accomplishment of this study, this study will specifically focus attention on the activities of small and medium size enterprises in Buea and due to the logical point that not every company can be studied and time constraint; this research is therefore limited in the Buea municipality which covers SME’s randomly selected from different types of businesses. The choice of Buea is attributed to the fact that it is the Administrative capital of South West Region and is one of the major towns of the Region made up of many business organizations, and therefore SME’s. This project is an academic work and can only run for the period given by the school. It is assumed that the information and data generated for this research will be adequate for reasonable generalization. The focus of the research is to show the adoption of budgeting and budgetary control in small and medium size enterprises especially relating to their financial statements.

• Limitations of the Study

Some respondents may not appear to give accurate answers to some questions even if the researcher promises to keep confidence with any information given to them.

Also, the researcher faces the challenge of finance because this research work require adequate fund, since the researcher will have to visit the company workers in the business organization (SME’s) at various locations in Buea.

Time constraints was a limitation as the research involved distributing questionnaires to different organizations most of whom were busy to spare enough time to respond. The duration within which the research was undertaken was also short leading to so much strain in time management and that’s why the research focus on Buea area only.

However, the researcher will sacrifice everything possible and will be able to find the necessary data in order for him to come up with sufficient information about the study that can be used to facilitate further researchers.

• Organization of the Study

This piece of work will start with the preliminary pages which are the cover page, declaration page, certification page, dedication page, acknowledgement page, table of contents, abstract, list of tables and list of abbreviations. The work will be arranged into chapters as follows;

Chapter one comprises of the introduction which dwells on the background of study, problem statement, research questions, objectives, hypothesis, and significance of the study, scope and organization of the work.

 Chapter two deals with literature review which comprises of; conceptual review, theoretical review and empirical review and focuses on review of past research work on same topic.

Chapter three describes the research methodology which includes presentation of the study area and its background, research designs, population sample and sampling techniques, sources and method of data collection, methods of analyses, and validity of results.

Chapter four comprises of data presentation and analysis and also discussion of results. This chapter elaborates the specific or minor objectives and identifies the main objectives of the study through a test of the hypothesis stated or formulated in chapter one.

Chapter five focuses on summary of findings, conclusion from the research findings, and the necessary recommendations based on the research findings. In addition, there will be areas for further studies and references. This research will therefore end with the main research instrument (questionnaire) used in collecting data.