An Investigation into the Cash Balance Management A pproaches in Saving and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Saving and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) ar e seen as vehicles for resources mobilization and gateways to economic prosperity fo r families especially those in lower and middle income category. These enterprises handle la rge sums of member funds in the form of deposits, shares ad interest. The management of SAC CO funds is as such a topical issue in the cooperative movement and among policy makers. This study explored the cash management approaches in SACCOs given that cash management is considered a core ingredient for any business survival. The population consisted of 143 SACCOs in Nakuru County. A sample of 38 SACCOs was selected through stratified random sampl ing. The study’s findings indicate that though a majority of SACCOs were conscious about th e need to manage their cash balances very few had policies on cash balance management. SACCOs were found to manage cash in a haphazard manner and no one cash management model w as found to be used entirely. The study concluded that there was no significant difference in the cash management approaches used by the employee based and association based SACCOs