BackgroundCervical cancer is the 2nd most frequent and top killer cancer among women in Ethiopia. Prevalence and factors associated with visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) positive result is not studied yet at the study area.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at Jimma model clinic of Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, from September 11, 2013 to October 11, 2013. Pertinent data of 334 screened clients were transferred to Epidata version3.1 using checklist, double data entry verification done and exported to SPSS version16.0. After cleaning the data, descriptive analysis was done and logistic regression model employed to identify predictors of VIA positive result. Statistical significance was declared at P < 0.05.ResultsOut of 334 screened clients, 43 (12.9 %) had VIA positive result. Initiation of sexual intercourse earlier than 16 years was found to be an independent predictor increasing the risk of VIA positive by 2.2 times as compared to clients who started at the age of 16 or more years (AOR [95 % CI] = 2.2 [1.1, 4.3]).ConclusionsEarly initiation of sexual intercourse was an independent predictor of VIA positive result in this study. Thus, any cervical cancer prevention and control effort at the study area should address the problem of early initiation of sexual intercourse.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1594-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.