Development of a Recordkeeping Culture in Community‐Based Organisations in Bangladesh

Abstract

Records play an important role in supporting business activities and in ensuring accountability in all types of organisations. However, recordkeeping research has mostly focused on the government sector and on large organisations. Little attention has been paid to small organisations which have limited resources to create and manage the records that they are required to produce and the records that could support their engagement in diversified activities. In this paper, we report the findings from 16 focus group discussions with community‐based organisations in Bangladesh which are in the process of transitioning from informal to registered organisations and, in order to do so, must formalise their recordkeeping practices. We discuss the recordkeeping needs and capabilities of these organisations and the recordkeeping problems that they are experiencing. We argue that it is important to support the development of a recordkeeping culture as part of capacity‐building in these organisations so that they can function effectively and be sustainable.