4. Conclusion
The result reveals positive correlation between: receivables and gross
income; total asset and net income/surplus; total equity/capital and
total asset; number of members and paid-up shares from members; and
paid-up shares from members and retained earnings. The study stresses
the importance of financial stewardship. The study found evidence that
weak commitment to stewardship translates into poor financial
performance such as low level of total receivables and gross income, low
level of total assets and net surplus/income, low level of total assets
and total equity/capital, low level of paid-up shares from members, low
level of retained earnings attributable to the paid-up shares from
members. Financial stewardship also brings practical contribution to the
development of cooperatives. The stewards should implement good credit
policies to encourage the members to patronize their cooperatives and
they should identify appropriate mark-ups and minimize cost of servicing
credit for the cooperatives to have higher gross income. They should
also implement financial strategies such as using debt or equity/capital
to increase the cooperatives’ assets and utilize these assets
effectively to generate higher net surplus/income. They should also
encourage members to contribute more capital by providing the members
with better services and benefits such as greater dividends, higher
profitability, growth in assets, and growth in equity value through
increased retained earnings.