David Mathuva, a Doctoral Fellow at Strathmore Business School (SBS) won a grant of US $ 3,500 to enable him complete his PhD Thesis titled “The Drivers of Financial and Social Disclosure Practices by Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) in Kenya”. The grant was awarded by the Association of African Universities (AAU).

 

The Small Grants Scheme is intended to facilitate the early completion and improve the quality of research undertaken by graduate students in African universities. AAU, whose headquarters is in Accra, Ghana, was founded in Rabat, Morocco on November 12, 1967, following recommendations made at an earlier conference organized by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Antananarivo, Madagascar in September 1962 for the formation of such an apex organization. With an initial membership of 34, the Association now has over 340 members, cutting across the language and other divides. Strathmore University is one of the members of AAU and encourages its staff and students to apply for small research grants provided by AAU.

 

David is in the third year of his PhD research which examines financial and social disclosures by deposit-taking SACCOs in Kenya. The study comes at a time when the quality of disclosure in the SACCO sector has been cited as low despite the regulatory efforts to improve disclosure. As a follow up on these concerns, the study examines the contribution of the regulator-driven ICPAK financial reporting guidelines on disclosures provided by larger SACCOs. It is hoped that the study will yield important results which will inform policy makers especially when formulating optimal disclosure policies for mutually owned organizations such as cooperatives in a developing country context.

 

We wish David all the best in his research.