MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING INFORMATION USEFULNESS AND CLOUD COMPUTING QUALITIES AMONG SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Mohammed Fadhil Farhan Al Lami,Ruhanita Maelah,Gheyath Ghassan

doi:10.32890/ijms.26.1.2019.10511

Mohammed Fadhil Farhan Al Lami, Ruhanita Maelah + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32890/ijms.26.1.2019.10511

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Abstract

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) stand to benefit and become competitive by utilizing information and communication technologies. Despite constraints faced by SMEs in adopting management accounting practices, it is imperative that management accounting information (MAI) be utilized to attain effective and efficient business operations. SMEs can benefit from cloud computing through the reduction of operating costs related to new technology adoption. In acknowledging the significance of cloud computing and MAI, this study examined the extent of MAI usefulness and qualities of cloud computing among Malaysian SMEs. Through self-administered questionnaires, a total of 105 respondents’ feedback was analyzed. The usefulness of MAI is a result of the availability and importance of each dimension’s items (timeliness, aggregation, scope, and integration). The findings also showed that the qualities of cloud computing (agility, assurance, accountability, financial, security and privacy, performance, and usability) can be considered as important; thus indicating the extent of technology utilization among SMEs. Keywords: Management accounting information, cloud computing, small-to-medium enterprises.

Highlights

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are new companies which consistently change their business activities, as their work environments are characterized by hyper-competitiveness, change, and technological complexity (Christauskas & Miseviciene, 2012)
In recognizing the significance of cloud computing and management accounting information (MAI), this paper aims to examine the usefulness of MAI and the qualities of cloud computing among Malaysian SMEs
The results showed that the highest mean was for security and privacy (4.38); indicating that SMEs in Malaysia regarded security and privacy as high important determinants of cloud computing provider’s quality

Summary

Introduction

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are new companies which consistently change their business activities, as their work environments are characterized by hyper-competitiveness, change, and technological complexity (Christauskas & Miseviciene, 2012). SMEs face challenges due to inadequate access to finance and workforce, limitations or incapability in adopting technology, and inadequate information compared with large-sized companies (Ting, 2004). It has been acknowledged that SMEs differ from large corporations, especially from the perspective of resource constraints. Even though SMEs are constrained from fully adopting MAI due to their small-scale operations and limited resources, the utilization of MAI is imperative in ensuring that they operate effectively and efficiently (Ahmad, 2013). A study by Ahmad (2012) found that MAI positively impacted SME performance, and that absence of MAI could cause business failure. MAI is defined as a source of information which encompasses financial and non-financial data for a company’s own use

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