What is it about?

This article presents a classroom teaching case about a Peruvian corner store owner who wants to expand her business but faces a major challenge: her bookkeeping and accounting practices remain too informal. Although her store has grown successfully, she still lacks the reliable financial information needed to understand profitability, manage cash and inventory, evaluate financing options, and plan for sustainable growth. Designed for use in accounting and business courses, the case asks students to step into the role of advisors. They must assess the entrepreneur’s strengths and limitations, design a more formal accounting process, compare software solutions, and define the kind of accountant she needs to support the business’s next stage of development. In this way, the article helps connect classroom learning with the real challenges faced by small business owners in Peru and other emerging economies.

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Why is it important?

This teaching case is important because it brings to the classroom a real and highly relevant challenge faced by many small businesses: growth becomes much harder when bookkeeping and accounting practices remain informal. While accounting education often focuses on formal systems and standards, many entrepreneurs in emerging economies operate in contexts where recordkeeping is incomplete, mixed with personal finances, or designed mainly for tax compliance rather than decision-making. This case helps students engage with that reality in a practical way. The article is also timely because small businesses are under increasing pressure to professionalize their operations, improve access to finance, and adopt accounting and digital tools that support growth. By focusing on a Peruvian corner store owner who wants to expand her business, the case shows how accounting, internal controls, software choices, and professional support all matter for sustainable development. It offers educators a concrete, classroom-ready resource that connects accounting learning with real entrepreneurial challenges in Latin America and other emerging contexts.

Perspectives

For me, this publication is important because it brings into the classroom a reality that accounting students will often face in practice but do not always see clearly in textbooks: many small businesses grow with strong entrepreneurial energy, yet still operate with informal bookkeeping and weak financial information. I wanted this teaching case to help students see that accounting is not only about compliance or technical rules. It is also about making growth visible, supporting better decisions, and giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to move forward with confidence. I am also especially interested in making accounting education more closely connected to the realities of Latin America and other emerging contexts. María’s story shows that behind every set of incomplete records there is a real business, a real family, and a real growth opportunity that may be limited by poor information. I hope this case helps students develop technical judgment, professional sensitivity, and a stronger appreciation of how accounting can contribute to sustainable small business development.

Professor Luis Demetrio Gomez Garcia
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Challenges in the accounting practices of a Peruvian corner store owner, Journal of Accounting Education, June 2026, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccedu.2026.101009.
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