Small and Medium Size Enterprises are increasing playing an important role in economic development of most countries all over the world nowadays. For these small businesses to grow and be sustainable, they require sufficient capital in the form of financial resources to go operational because the lack of funding or access to finance could hamper their growth. The lack of access to finance has been reported to be one of the major causes of small business failure and discontinuity in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to identify the available sources of financial support for the growth of SMEs in South Africa. The study anticipates to find out why despite government's effort to offer financial support for the growth of the SME sector, the rate of small business failure and discontinuity in South Africa is still one of the highest in the world. A qualitative methodological approach was utilized and interviews were conducted on SME managers on the subject under investigation. It was found that most SME managers in South Africa are ignorant about available sources of finance offered by government to boost the sector. It is imperative for the relevant authorities to revise and improve on the means and mechanisms used to support SMEs such that all small business managers are aware of the availability of this assistance and where and how to access it. In this regard, the government need to set up education and training facilities in different communities where intending and existing small business managers would be educated on the available sources of finance and how to access this funding to start up and grow their businesses.

Background: Reliable and adequate healthcare funding is crucial in public healthcare service delivery. However, district hospitals in Malawi, face funding challenges as evidenced by poor service delivery.Aim: This study aimed at investigating funding challenges experienced by public district hospitals of Malawi in the provision of healthcare services and proposing strategies for improved funding.Setting: The research presented in this article evaluates funding challenges in the public healthcare sector in Malawi, a developing country.Method: An exploratory sequential mixed method design was used. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 purposively selected individuals and were analysed thematically. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires from 328 respondents. Quantitative data underwent factor and univariate analysis.Results: The study revealed that government funding is received late and is inadequate; donor funding was declining and earmarked for specific health activities; while income generation capacity of hospitals and Councils is weak. The study suggests that hospitals should introduce fees for service, government should be lobbied for increased funding allocations, and revenue–generating capacity of hospitals and Councils should be enhanced.Conclusion: The study concludes that there is an urgent need for government to prioritise the healthcare delivery sector and increase its funding. Hospitals and Councils should be innovative in order to generate additional funding for operations and the revenue generation capacity of hospitals and Councils should thus, be enhanced.Contribution: The study adds to the healthcare funding debate in developing countries by providing a context–specific analysis of healthcare funding challenges and suggesting improvement strategies.

Achieving a clean audit report has been almost impossible for the local municipalities of the North West province due to mismanagement of financial resources by the municipal role-players. In this regard, this study was aimed at exploring the key enablers to achieve financial accountability as well as propose a framework for financial accountability. The Stewardship Theory underpinned this study which emphasises the need for public servants to serve their employers with utmost truthfulness. The social constructivist research paradigm and a qualitative research approach was adopted. An exploratory research design was applied and a semi-structured interviews was used as a data collection method. A total of thirty six participants participated in the study. At the end of data collection, Atlas-ti software (version 8.2) was used to analyse data. Themes and categories were presented using Atlas-ti network diagram and these were well interpreted and discussed. Findings obtained from the study indicated that the key enablers of municipal financial accountability include the facilitation of policies and legislation, the facilitation oversight functions of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, risk management, benchmarking, internal control, and financial management. These factors were investigated in the empirical study and it was discovered that all are key enablers towards achieving financial accountability except benchmarking which was regarded as a growth tool. Added to these factors are the contributions to the body of knowledge which include training of financial employees and the implementation of consequence management against role-players who do not abide with the financial policies and legislation of the municipalities. The study recommends above all, that the municipality role-players (financial employees) should be adequately trained to ensure competency, MPAC should effectively conduct their oversight duties and recommendations, also legal actions should be adequately taken on all culprits without fear or favour. This is in an endeavour to enhance financial accountability of local municipalities in the North West province.