Accounting and Financial Management for Start-ups, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Framework for Sustainable Growth in India

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between accounting practices, financial management, access to finance, innovation capability and entrepreneurial performance among start-ups in India. The study is based on primary survey data collected from 150 respondents comprising start-up founders, co-founders, entrepreneurs, partners and business or finance managers. A structured questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale was used to collect the data, and the analysis employs descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and one-way ANOVA. The results indicate that accounting practices, financial management, access to finance and innovation capability are each positively and significantly correlated with entrepreneurial performance. The multiple regression model is statistically significant, F(4, 145) = 21.039, p < .001, and explains 36.7 per cent of the variation in entrepreneurial performance (R² = 0.367). Within the model, however, only innovation capability (Beta = 0.363, p < .001) and access to finance (Beta = 0.179, p = .029) make statistically significant independent contributions; the coefficients for accounting practices (p = .327) and financial management (p = .089) are positive but not significant. A one-way ANOVA further indicates that entrepreneurial performance does not differ significantly across start-ups of different ages, F(3, 146) = 0.404, p = .750. The study argues that accounting and financial management should not be viewed merely as compliance functions: they support financial planning, resource allocation, risk management and business decision-making, and the results suggest that much of their association with performance operates through the financing and innovation capacity they help to build. The study concludes that an integrated approach combining accounting, financial management, access to finance and innovation capability offers a more useful basis for understanding entrepreneurial performance among Indian start-ups than any of these dimensions considered on its own.