Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
Accounting and Sufficiency Economy
Chusri Taesiriphet*, Jomjai Sampet**, Duraya Sukthomya***
Sufficiency Economy is a philosophy based on the fundamental principle of Thai
culture, initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It is a philosophy that guides
the livelihood and behaviour of people at all levels, from the family to the community to
the country, based on moderation, prudence, and social immunity. Key success factors
in Sufficiency Economy are comprised mainly of intelligence and perseverance which
will lead to real happiness in sustainable living.
The main objective of this study is to develop a personal accounting system for a
community in Chiang Mai, Thailand and to assist community members in recording
and utilising accounting information in accordance with the Philosophy of Sufficiency
Economy. This study applies descriptive method enabling participation from
community members. Primary data are obtained from interviews with community
leaders and representatives. Data are also obtained from observing volunteers’
behaviour. Questionnaires before and after the project participation are carried out in
order to evaluate success.
The results of this study indicate that the majority of community members did not
perform personal record keeping resulted from lack of understanding in fundamental
concepts of personal accounting systems and also lack of guidance. Development of
the personal accounting system began with creation of activities for project participants
allowing them to make an estimate of all expenses arising in each life cycle in order to
create awareness in bookkeeping. Afterwards, the researchers conducted training
sessions in recording income and expenses in cash basis separating personal and
occupational transactions. Continuous follow-up process has been performed for six
months to observe progress in bookkeeping. At the end of the project, it is found that
the project participants were able to perform their own bookkeeping and make use of
accounting information in financial planning by reducing some unnecessary spending
in order to save more, leading them to sustainable living under the Philosophy of
Sufficiency Economy. Not only the change in spending behaviour, majority of project
participants also got more confident in sharing the knowledge and experiences to other
community members which helps promote self-reliant and sustainability in their
community.
1. Introduction
This study is a further extension of the academic service project aimed at providing
knowledge in personal record keeping to communities in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The
academic service performed before this study indicated that majority of community
members did not perform personal record keeping resulted from lack of knowledge and
understanding, lack of practice and lack of guidance. Without proper personal record
keeping, ones would not know their financial status which could be a major obstacle for
the sustainable development of the country. In addition, information from personal record
keeping is crucial for community business development. In the past, record keeping in a
community focused solely on household records, ignoring personal records, which
resulted in missing data, incomplete recording, and low-quality reporting system. As a
result, information obtained from household records was not acceptable and could not be
__________________________
*Associate Professor Chusri Taesiriphet, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration,
Chiang Mai University, Thailand, Email: chusri56@gmail.com
**Dr. Jomjai Sampet, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, Chiang Mai University,
Thailand, Email: jomjais@hotmail.com
***Dr. Duraya Sukthomya, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, Chiang Mai
University, Thailand, Email: duraya.s@cmu.ac.th (Corresponding author)
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
integrated into community business databases. Therefore, the main objective of this study
is to develop a personal accounting system that achievable by the community members
and practical under the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy.
2. Theoretical Background and Literature Review
2.1. The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy
Sufficiency Economy is a philosophy based on the fundamental principle of Thai culture,
initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It is a philosophy that guides the
livelihood and behaviour of people at all levels, from the family to the community to the
country, based on moderation, prudence, and social immunity. Key success factors in
Sufficiency Economy are comprised mainly of intelligence and perseverance which will
lead
to
real
happiness
in
sustainable
living.
The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy framework consists of three main components and
two underlying condition (Piboolsravut, 2004, the Chaipattana Foundation, 2013). The
three pillars which serve as essential principles are moderation reasonableness and selfimmunity;



Moderation: Since 1974 His Majesty the King defined this component as “sufficient
to live and to eat” (Por You Por Kin) (Royal Speech, December 4, 1974). The
essential of this component is sufficiency at a level of not doing something too little
or too much at the expense of oneself or others.
Reasonableness: The decision concerning the optimal level of sufficiency must be
made meticulously. Factors involved and anticipation of outcomes from such
actions have to be considered.
self-immunity: The preparation to handle likely impact and changes in various
aspects taking into consideration the probability of future situations, including ability
to cope with shocks from internal and external changes.
The two underlying conditions to achieve Sufficiency Economy are knowledge and
morality;
 Knowledge, including all-round knowledge in relevant area and carefulness in
applying such knowledge in order to thoroughly understand relationships among the
field which can lead to successful planning and implementation.
 Morality, awareness of honestly and integrity- while conducting their lives with
perseverance, harmlessness and generousity.
2.2. Implementation of Household Accounting
The Cooperative Auditing Department of Thailand (2010) has designed household journal
and occupational costing ledger for co-operative members. These journals help promote
sustainable living under the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. Recording personal
income and expenses regularly encourage systematic lifestyle planning following the
moderate path and enabling self-reliant. It helps people consume within limitation of
existing income and adjust their spending behaviour. The concept of household record
keeping is in line with the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy that it helps ensure that the
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
distribution of income is acceptable and serves as the overall economic foundation and
stability of the nation.
2.3 . Previous Literature
Mongkolsamai (2008) studies knowledge management for community business in roasted
golden longan production in Lamphun province, Thailand. Data are obtained from
community forum, field work record, in-depth interviews, group discussions. Mongkolsamai
finds that agriculturists had good knowledge of household accounting because the
government authority provided them continuous education courses for over ten years.
However, problems in household accounting still exist because agriculturists feel reluctant
to perform household record keeping in the month that they have no income.
Boon-Long (2009) states in “Ten innovation from villagers” that household accounting
could help resolve debt problems in a community called Baan Samkha in Lampang
province, Thailand. People in Baan Samkha never known that they were in debt until they
started to investigate and analyse their income and expenses. Baan Samkha community
becomes prototype for many communities later on.
Ruangsinpinya (2011) finds that household accounting is the way to use accounting as a
tool to support the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. Household record keeping could
help reduce unnecessary spending and build better savings habits which eventually would
resolve debt problems.
3. Research Methodology
This study focuses on development of personal accounting system rather than household
accounting system because of suitability of data source and record practice. Participatory
Action Research Method (PAR) is applied enabling community participation. Problems and
obstacles in personal record keeping practicing are obtained primarily from interviews with
community leaders and representatives.
There are seven community members that participate in the project consistently. Before
taking part in the project, the majority of participants had moderate level of record keeping
and had intention to perform record keeping in order to get correct figures of their income
and expenses. The project volunteers took part in bookkeeping practices and accounting
system development for approximately six months. Progress in record keeping skill was
monitored attentively in order to identify weaknesses and adjust record keeping patterns.
Data were also obtained from observing volunteers’ behaviour. Questionnaires before and
after the project participation were carried out in order to evaluate success.
4. The Findings
4.1 . Acceptance of Project Participants
There are seven participants who passed the criteria. All of them are female, graduated
middle school, aged between 30 – 50, married, self-employed, had low spending level,
had both savings and debts, owned properties. The majority of participants had not been
trained and had not performed record keeping.
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
4.2. Creating Awareness in the Importance of Record Keeping
The development of personal accounting system started from creating awareness in the
importance of record keeping to community members by encourage them to analyse all
activities in their lifecycle- from childhood, teenage, working age, middle age to retirementand estimate income and expenses in each lifecycle. The participants’ opinions toward the
importance of record keeping obtained from this activity are as follows;





Every lifecycle is related to financial activities, therefore, systematic and
continuous record keeping is necessary.
In the development of record keeping skills, record keepers have to pay attention
to every process and have to practices regularly.
Accounting concepts stress on record keeping as well as summarising and
reporting. Therefore, record keeping helps people aware of their financial status
and have better financial decision.
Development of record keeping should start from individual level as all evidences
could be obtained easily. After personal record keeping is done, household and
community record keeping could be followed. Having proper record keeping
indicates economic strength of the community which could lead to every level of
development network.
Record keeping makes participant knowing themselves better and encourages
better spending behaviour.
Creating awareness in the importance of record keeping by allowing all participants to
brainstorm and exchange their views reduce their fears and encourage their enthusiasm.
4.3. Training Sessions
Questionnaire survey was carried out before starting the training allowing participants to
evaluate their level of knowledge and provide their views toward record keeping before
development of the accounting system. It is found that the majority of participants had
incorrect understanding of income and expenses, and could not separate personal and
occupational transactions. The participants felt that record keeping could help them
personally rather than occupationally because all of them are not entrepreneurs.
Nevertheless, they believed that accounting is related to them in every lifecycle as it helps
them aware of their financial status and enable them to make financial planning. The
biggest obstacle in record keeping in the participants’ view is difficulty of accounting
concept, other obstacles include time constraints and lack of guidance.
The training sessions were divided into two parts;
 Daily record of personal income and expenses separating personal and
occupational income. A daily record journal which is also account ledger was
developed (Figure 1). Financial management was also included in this session.
 Monthly financial statement preparation including summary of income and
expenses and operating outcome. A monthly summary of income and expenses
form (Figure2) was developed in order to help the participants analyse the net
income from their occupation. After completing this form, the participants were
aware of their financial position and able to make better decision of their financial
management.
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
Figure 1
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
Figure 2
4.4. Follow-up and Evaluation Process
Follow-up process had been done through 1-2 times a month meeting. In each meeting,
the researcher monitored the participants’ progress in record keeping, obstacles and
problems that participants facing were discussed in order to find better accounting format
that is practical for participants. Participants’ spending behaviours were observed as some
of them had specific behaviour such as overspending of merit making with no intention to
cut this kind of expenses which is unique in Thai culture. Evaluation process carried out
after the follow-up revealed that the participants had developed a better understanding in
record keeping, for examples, they could separate personal and occupational more
precisely.
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
4.5. Dissemination of Research Findings
Dissemination of research findings was carried out through workshop training titled
“personal record keeping for sustainable community”. The workshop comprised a
comprehensive summary of practical formats of record keeping developed for the
community. Afterwards, the project participants shared their experiences from joining the
project to the community members. Questionnaire survey after the workshop indicated
that the project participants gain more knowledge from this workshop and intend to
continue their record keeping practices. The participants aware that record keeping could
lead them to better way of life. The participants also agree that the accounting system
developed in this project is practical and achievable. In addition, they are willing to share
the knowledge obtained to other community members to help promote sustainable living in
their community.
5. Summary and Implication
Results from this study indicate that the project participants gain more knowledge and are
able to perform their own record keeping. However, discomfort when seeing high
expenses discourages them to make record keeping. This is consistent with the finding of
Mongkolsamai (2008) who finds that agriculturists who have decent knowledge in
accounting feel reluctant to perform household record keeping, especially in the month
that they have no income.
This study also finds that change in spending behaviour existed when project participants
keep track of their financial records. The project participants made use of their financial
records in financial planning by reducing some unnecessary spending in order to save
more, leading them to sustainable living under the Philosophy of Sufficient Economy. Prior
studies in Thailand (Boon-Long, 2009; Ruangsinpinya, 2012) reported similar results.
This study is different from most research in this area in that personal record keeping is
treated as the main focus while other studies stress on evaluation of problems and
understanding in communities’ household record keeping. In addition, the accounting
system developed from community members participation in this study is realistic and
achievable. This can lead to knowledge sharing in the community, consistent with the
National Economic and Social Development Plan that focuses on “Citizen Centre” under
the Philosophy of Sufficient Economy initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Personal accounting system development process applied in this study could be
disseminated to other communities including graduate and undergraduate students who
will be important force that help the country develops under the globalisation. Proper
personal financial planning is great source of self-immunity that could lead to the
successful at both individual and organisational level.
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Proceedings of 8th Annual London Business Research Conference
Imperial College, London, UK, 8 - 9 July, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-28-3
References
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<http://www.biogang.net/expert_view.php?menu=expert&uid=7172&id=2897>
[Accessed 25 July 2011].
Chaipattana Foundation 2013, Sufficiency Economy [online]. Available at:
<http://www.chaipat.or.th/chaipat_english/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic
le&id=4103&Itemid=293> [Accessed 30 April 2013].
Cooperative Auditing Department of Thailand 2010, Household journal and occupational
costing ledger, Cooperative Auditing Department of Thailand. Bangkok.
Mongkolsamai, V 2008, Knowledge management for community business in roasted
golden longan production of Muanggwak agriculturists Lamphun province, Rajabhat
Chiang Mai Journal, Vol 10, No.2.
Piboolsravut, P 2004, Sufficiency economy, ASEAN Economic Bulletin, Vol 21, No.1,
pp.127-134.
Royal Speech, December 4, 1974. Bangkok :Amarin Printing and Publishing.
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