Research overview · 13.11.2026

Financial Literacy in Entrepreneurship: Why Practice Matters

A woman calculating financial figures beside a laptop — Illustrative photograph: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels · Pexels License

Author: Martina Mundová

Understanding financial terms and making actual decisions about costs and revenue are different skills. A 2026 study examined how entrepreneurial experience relates to financial literacy.

Study design

Purnomo, Ircan and El Aziz surveyed 288 university students in Indonesia, comparing those with entrepreneurial experience against students who had never run a project.

They considered financial knowledge and behaviour relating to budgeting, savings, credit, insurance and investment, while accounting for selected background characteristics.

What the researchers found

Students with entrepreneurial experience reported higher average financial literacy than those without it. The association remained in their adjusted regression model.

This does not demonstrate that entrepreneurship caused the difference. Financially literate students may be more likely to start a business, and cross-sectional data cannot eliminate competing explanations.

A useful exercise for founders

WEBU recommends a monthly table of projected income, fixed costs, upcoming payments and cash reserves. Track the actual time needed to deliver each service.

For a website project, distinguish the one-time build price from ongoing maintenance, licence costs and customer communication. The point is to support decisions rather than merely record past spending.

Practice without unnecessary risk

If you have not started a company, a simulated venture can help practise budgeting, pricing and cash-flow management. Students benefit from seeing the consequences of their calculations.

This is a practical application of the research, not a guaranteed method for increasing income.

Limits and conclusion

The sample comprised university students in one country and relied substantially on self-report. Results cannot simply be generalised to experienced business owners elsewhere.

The research supports a link between practice and financial understanding. Regular, clear financial tracking remains a useful business habit.

Research source

Purnomo, B. R., Ircan, W. H., & El Aziz, H. A. (2026). Practicing entrepreneurship builds financial literacy in undergraduate students. Discover Education, 5, 547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-026-01547-1