The importance of accounting for micro-credit beneficiaries in developing countries: a social experiment in Spanish universities

Although real progress has been made improving the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable, there is still a long way to go if we observe the levels of success in managing financial products. This research is an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of financial and accounting literacy in financial inclusion and how it can be enhanced in the digital age. Firstly, our research has analysed different financial education programmes recently delivered by microfinance institutions. Secondly, the authors have designed a basic accounting tool that has been tested in three Spanish universities. Our findings show that participants in the intervention group performed better, proving that the accounting tool helped them record transactions and enhanced the usefulness of financial and accounting information. In addition, participants were highly motivated by the experiment, given the social purpose of our project, and it helped them to understand better the situation in developing countries and the importance of accounting.