The foundation of the study was to uncover what helped small business owners achieve sustainable businesses. Small businesses may not have the resources that larger companies have, yet survival is just as critical to economic development (Banham & He, 2014; Kamyabi & Devi, 2014). While studying the research material, no clear answer(s) surfaced as to what small businesses needed to achieve success. Using a qualitative approach to understand the degree small business owners placed on bookkeeping helped to explain how the decision-making process was affected.