Organisational Determinants And E-Accounting System Implementation In Micro And Small Enterprises (Mses) In South-West Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, there had been evidences on the accounting benefits accruable to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the integration of ICT in the accounting processes. Despite these benefits, the implementation of ICT in the accounting process of MSEs in Nigeria has not been well sought after as expected. More so, there had been mixed evidences on the factors influencing the implementation of e-Accounting in MSEs but these factors are yet to be situated in the context of Nigeria. It is against this background that the study empirically investigated the factors influencing the implementation of e-Accounting system in MSEs in Nigeria. In the study, four research questions, objectives and hypotheses were examined. These were focused around four major constructs; Owner/manager, Business, Technological and External characteristics. The study adopted the survey research design. The geographical scope of the study was limited to Owners/manager of MSEs in South-West Nigeria, in which samples were selected based on the stratified sampling technique. Utilizing the Raosoft sample size calculator and Bartlett, Kotrlik and Higgins sample size table, six-hundred and sixty (660) copies of the questionnaire were distributed within the South-West zone, out of which four-hundred and ten (410) were usable. The data gathered were analysed using general purpose statistical software STATA and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the results were estimated using Binary Logistic Regression. The results revealed that owner/manager e-Accounting capability, business age, technology complexity, technology compatibility, technology security, technology cost to annual profit, presence of external IT supplier, customers’ request, external expertise influence are significant in the implementation of e-Accounting system. The study made the following recommendations amongst others; The MSEs geographical concentration should be considered in providing an indigenous and affordable e-Accounting system that allows for multi-user access and multi-preference specifications deployable to MSEs. In addition, the provision of an indigenous e-Accounting system should not be limited only to the supply of the e-Accounting infrastructure but should encompass the provision of consulting services during the pre-implementation, implementation and post implementation process. The study also proposed an e-Accounting framework that provides a platform where customers of e-Accounting system can indicate their needs, budgets and specifications, thus enabling them to own an e-Accounting system on a shared platform. The proposed framework in the study provide solutions to some constraints inhibiting the use of e-Accounting which include inability to allocate funds to information technology (IT) projects because of its capital intensive nature and the difficulties in recruiting and maintaining IT experts in micro and small enterprises

Keywords: e-Accounting, Implementation, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Information Communication Technologies (ICT).