Assessing the financial management practices of the Myanmar Baptist Convention | |
| Author | Augusta Na Fa |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-07-15 |
| Subject(s) | Religious institutions--Finance--Myanmar Baptis associations--Finance--Myanmar |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The purpose of the study was to assess financial management practices of faith based organizations in Myanmar through the case study of Myanmar Baptist Convention which was established in 1856 and serves 1.7 million members across the country. This empirical research tried to study fund raising strategies, financial accountability and fund flow mechanism of faith based organizations. The research finding showed that MBC has limited long term income sources. Current long term sources such as annual contribution from the Language Conventions and direct contribution from individual and member churches were not promising to cover the organization's running cost. The largest income sources for the study periods are likely to be short-term. The return from the financial investment are not promising because the financial institutions are performing poorly and bank interest rates are not able to keep up with the high inflation rates. Regarding the financial accountability, the research highlighted that the budget did not serve as the management tools and budget review mechanism was not set up properly. Disclosure of financial information to EC and BM was partial. Audited reports did not include balance sheet to present organization financial position. Financial policies did not clearly state and current finance manual was out of date and no review since it was developed in 1985. It was also found that downward fund flow is in place in the systematic manner while upward one is not recorded at each level. It also observed that banking service is rarely used at the regional level and some conventions don't even have organization bank account. Recommendations were provided to improve financial management practices of MBC especially in the areas of fund raising, budgeting and resources utilization, financial accountability and fund flow. |
| Year | 2007 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Routray, Jayant Kumar;Kusakabe, Kyoko; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Myanmar Baptist Convention;NORWAY;AIT Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007 |