Abstract
This study investigates the way in which informal manufacturing enterprises in South Africa develop and employ entrepreneurial learning through experience to improve costing and pricing practices. Informal manufacturing businesses have unique challenges, such as limited access to formal education and financial management tools. Therefore, entrepreneurial learning through experience becomes very important to support success. This study endeavours to fill key gaps in the literature by examining the role of entrepreneurial learning in costing, pricing, and management accounting practices, specifically for informal businesses. The qualitative research project used semi-structured interviews with informal manufacturing business owners. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and identify patterns, specifically in relation to entrepreneurial learning experiences, costing approaches and pricing strategies. The findings suggest that costing systems in use by these businesses are fragmented, basic and often reliant on estimation and intuition. As a result, entrepreneurs may risk under-pricing their outputs while commonly making inefficient costing assumptions. The key findings suggest that entrepreneurs learn from experiential learning largely through trial and error to develop pricing strategies. The findings indicated that past work experience and informal networks may be influential in how entrepreneurs learn. The study concludes that this aspect of entrepreneurial learning could be improved primarily through mentoring and access to topic specific training and educational opportunities to use improved management accounting practices for informal manufacturers.