摘要：In South Africa, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) add significant socio-economic value to the national economy and are regarded as the driving force for economic growth. Prior research shows that these business entities’ sustainability leaves much to be desired as approximately 80% of South African SMMEs fail after being in operation for only three years; believed to be caused mostly by unmanaged economic factors. Although unmanaged economic factors may culminate in risks which adversely affect the sustainability of South African SMMEs, internal control activities can be used to mitigate the probability and potential impact of such risks. One of the most cost-effective internal control activities is that of document usage and design (e.g. source documents and internal documents). For this study, the primary objective was to determine the influence of source document usage, as an internal control measure, on the sustainability of South African small, medium and micro retail enterprises. The study was empirical and quantitative in nature and survey research was conducted by means of disseminating and collecting questionnaires to 120 SMME owners and/or managers. Stemming from the results, it became apparent that the use of source documents by the responding SMMEs did not have any statistically significant influence on their sustainability.
关键词：internal control; SMMEs; Source document usage; South Africa; sustainability
