In early September 2012, I realized that I needed to become a better manager of funds. The fact is that I’ve never excelled at financial management, which has been a weak point most of my life. Even during my MBA studies the hardest course I took was “accounting & finance”. However many things have changed since my college days. Now, I am responsible both for my family as well as running an ongoing business.
I knew I had to get back to “school”! Thus, I started reviewing some of my course materials as well as doing other readings to improve my bookkeeping knowledge and skills. Currently, I’m still working on improving bookkeeping as well as on improving financial forecasting in the mid-to-long term.
Part of my daily routine
Every day now, once I start my computer, one of the many things I do is jot down all the various transactions (both personal and business ones). The rigors of bookkeeping (accounting) are a relatively new discipline for me but the part I’m enjoying even more is the ability to see where I’m currently standing financially and also create a better idea of where I need to go.
As I said, it’s a new discipline, but one that I intend on improving and maybe, just maybe, get to perfect to the point that I can take on bigger projects or business ideas in the future.
Some cultural background – importance of education
In developed counties, the idea of a child’s budget is a common and well established thing for most families, while for Albanian families this is still a relatively new discipline. Having their own small budget helps a child learn how to better manage funds early on, thus becoming better at it once they grow up and become financially independent.
However, for example, when I was growing up, my parents (as most Albanian families) did not have much in terms of income to give me to spend on a weekly or monthly basis. Also, there was the important fact that there were very few places that you could spend your money on as there were not that many shops or coffee places (late communist period, early democracy).
Things changed radically with the advent of democracy in the county and the slowing improving economic conditions. People started to have more funds and more places where to spend them. However, the idea of a child’s own budget has not yet caught on, thus mismanagement was and continues to plague the 1970’s and early 80’s generation.
Meanwhile, for children still in school, there is greater hope as they are being taught basic economic principles and also ways to better manage their own finances (which was not the case when I was in elementary or high school).
