IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jknowl/v10y2019i1d10.1007_s13132-016-0439-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Study of Contingency Factors of Accounting Information System Design in Tunisian SMIs

Author

Listed:
  • Jihene Ghorbel

    (University of Liège-Belgium
    University of Sfax-Tunisia)

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying the factors that influence the design of the accounting information system in the Tunisian small and medium industries (SMIs) through the characteristics of information, accounting management tools, and degree of formalism. The accounting information system is considered to be a key factor of competitiveness of companies. It provides managers with the relevant accounting information to help them with the decision making. Through a set of structural and behavioral factors, we tried to improve the understanding of the accounting information system in the developing countries, using Tunisia as an example. Based on a technical questionnaire, a total of 221 Tunisian companies operating exclusively in the industrial sector were studied. By using the PLS structural equation modeling, we showed that the design of accounting information system is influenced by several factors of contingency. When we looked at structural contingency, we found a positive and significant effect of the firm’s size on the degree of formalism. In addition, a positive and significant effect of the organizational structure on the characteristics of the accounting information systems was shown. Furthermore, the examination of the behavioral contingency showed that the manager’s profile affects in part the use of accounting management tools. In conclusion, our study extends the accounting information system literature and helps managers to have a framework to enhance the performance of their industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Jihene Ghorbel, 2019. "A Study of Contingency Factors of Accounting Information System Design in Tunisian SMIs," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 74-103, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-016-0439-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-016-0439-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-016-0439-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13132-016-0439-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baines, Annette & Langfield-Smith, Kim, 2003. "Antecedents to management accounting change: a structural equation approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(7-8), pages 675-698.
    2. Zouhour Ben Hamadi & Adrien Bonache & Philippe Chapellier & Abdallah Mohammed, 2011. "Les déterminants de la complexité des systèmes de données comptables des dirigeants de petites et moyennes entreprises : Une méta-analyse sur données individuelles," Post-Print hal-00646518, HAL.
    3. Mohamed Ali Boujelbene & Habib Affes, 2015. "Impact of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between budgetary participation and managerial performance and job satisfaction: some Tunisian evidence," International Journal of Accounting and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(1), pages 27-47.
    4. Davila, Tony, 2005. "An exploratory study on the emergence of management control systems: formalizing human resources in small growing firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 223-248, April.
    5. Philippe Chapellier & Abdallah Mohammed, 2010. "Les Pratiques Comptables Des Dirigeants De Pme Syriennes Dans Un Contexte De Liberalisation De L'Economie," Post-Print hal-00479521, HAL.
    6. Gordon, Lawrence A. & Narayanan, V. K., 1984. "Management accounting systems, perceived environmental uncertainty and organization structure: An empirical investigation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 33-47, January.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12173 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Adrien Bonache & Philippe Chapellier & Zouhour Ben Hamadi & Abdallah Mohammed, 2015. "Les déterminants de la complexité des systèmes d’information comptables des dirigeants de PME : contingences culturelles et endogénéité," Post-Print hal-02009448, HAL.
    9. Thierry Nobre, 2001. "Méthodes et outils du contrôle de gestion dans les PME," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 4(2), pages 119-148, March.
    10. Benoît Lavigne, 2002. "Contribution à l'étude de la genèse des états financiers des PME," Comptabilité - Contrôle - Audit, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 8(1), pages 25-44.
    11. Sarah Santin & Didier van Caillie, 2008. "Le Design Du Système De Contrôle De Gestion Des Pme: Une Quête De Stabilité Adaptative," Post-Print halshs-00525973, HAL.
    12. M. U Saganuwan & U. N. U. Ahmad, 2013. "Technostress: Mediating Accounting Information System Performance," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 5(6), pages 270-277.
    13. Govindarajan, V., 1984. "Appropriateness of accounting data in performance evaluation: An empirical examination of environmental uncertainty as an intervening variable," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 125-135, June.
    14. Gerdin, Jonas, 2005. "Management accounting system design in manufacturing departments: an empirical investigation using a multiple contingencies approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-126, February.
    15. Toomas Haldma & Kertu Laats, 2002. "Influencing Contingencies On Management Accounting Practices In Estonian Manufacturing Companies," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 13, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    16. Nicolas Berland & Yves de Rongé, 2013. "Contrôle de gestion," Post-Print hal-01659184, HAL.
    17. Vincent Chong & Kar Chong, 1997. "Strategic Choices, Environmental Uncertainty and SBU Performance: A Note on the Intervening Role of Management Accounting Systems," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 268-276.
    18. Otley, David T., 1980. "The contingency theory of management accounting: Achievement and prognosis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 413-428, October.
    19. Chenhall, R. H. & Langfield-Smith, K., 1998. "The relationship between strategic priorities, management techniques and management accounting: an empirical investigation using a systems approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 243-264, April.
    20. Merchant, Kenneth A., 1984. "Influences on departmental budgeting: an empirical examination of a contingency model," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(3-4), pages 291-307, October.
    21. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    22. Adrien Bonache & Philippe Chapellier & Zouhour Ben Hamadi & Abdallah Mohammed, 2015. "Determinants of the complexity of accounting information systems of managers of SMEs: cultural contingencies and endogeneity [Los factores determinantes de la complejidad de los sistemas de informa," Post-Print halshs-01288141, HAL.
    23. Abdel-Kader, Magdy & Luther, Robert, 2008. "The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 2-27.
    24. Chenhall, Robert H., 2003. "Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 127-168.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rizka Ramayanti & Nurul Aisyah Rachmawati & Yunita Fitra Andriana, 2022. "Level of Urgency for the Application of Integrated Financial and Tax Reports for MSME Actors: A Cost and Benefit Analysis Approach," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(5), pages 377-387, July.
    2. Vu Thi Thanh Binh & Nhat-Minh Tran & Manh-Chien Vu, 2022. "The Effect of Organizational Culture on the Quality of Accounting Information Systems: Evidence From Vietnam," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jihène Ghorbel, 2015. "Approche Contingente Du Design Du Systeme D'Information Comptable Dans Les Pmi Tunisiennes," Post-Print hal-01188692, HAL.
    2. Jihene Ghorbel, 2016. "The Relationship between the Profile of Manager and Management Accounting Practices in Tunisian SMIs," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 6(1), pages 61-72, January.
    3. Ellen Haustein & Robert Luther & Peter Schuster, 2014. "Management control systems in innovation companies: a literature based framework," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 343-382, February.
    4. Adrien Bonache & Philippe Chapellier & Zouhour Ben Hamadi & Abdallah Mohammed, 2015. "Determinants of the complexity of accounting information systems of managers of SMEs: cultural contingencies and endogeneity [Los factores determinantes de la complejidad de los sistemas de informa," Post-Print halshs-01288141, HAL.
    5. Macinati, Manuela S. & Anessi-Pessina, E., 2014. "Management accounting use and financial performance in public health-care organisations: Evidence from the Italian National Health Service," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 98-111.
    6. Abdel-Kader, Magdy & Luther, Robert, 2008. "The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 2-27.
    7. Cadez, Simon & Guilding, Chris, 2008. "An exploratory investigation of an integrated contingency model of strategic management accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 836-863.
    8. Adel R. Haedr & Messaoud Mehafdi, 2017. "Accounting for Management Control in Large Libyan Companies," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 3(3), pages 279-304, July.
    9. Adel Elgharbawy & Magdy Abdel-Kader, 2013. "Enterprise governance and value-based management: a theoretical contingency framework," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(1), pages 99-129, February.
    10. Bedford, David S. & Malmi, Teemu & Sandelin, Mikko, 2016. "Management control effectiveness and strategy: An empirical analysis of packages and systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 12-28.
    11. Annukka Jokipii, 2010. "Determinants and consequences of internal control in firms: a contingency theory based analysis," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 14(2), pages 115-144, May.
    12. Katia Dangereux & Philippe Chapellier & Fabienne Villesèque-Dubus, 2014. "FROM DIVERSITY OF SMEs’ CHARACTERISTICS TO DIVERSITY OF THEIR MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM : THE CASE OF AN ELABORATE PURCHASE DASHBOARD [De La Diversite Des Caracteristiques Des Pme A La Diversite De," Post-Print hal-01899657, HAL.
    13. Zouhour Ben Hamadi & Philippe Chapellier, 2012. "Le système de données comptables des dirigeants de PME tunisiennes : complexité et déterminants," Post-Print hal-02438770, HAL.
    14. Chenhall, Robert H., 2003. "Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 127-168.
    15. Amizawati Mohd Amir, 2011. "The indirect effects of PMS design on Malaysian service firms' characteristics and performance," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(1), pages 31-49, May.
    16. Philippe Chapellier & Abdallah Mohammed & Robert Teller, 2013. "Le système d'information comptable des dirigeants de PME syriennes : complexité et contingences," Post-Print hal-02438601, HAL.
    17. Bhimani, Alnoor & Sivabalan, Prabhu & Soonawalla, Kazbi, 2018. "A study of the linkages between rolling budget forms, uncertainty and strategy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 306-323.
    18. Ewelina ZARZYCKA & Justyna DOBROSZEK & Cristina CIRCA & Alina ALMASAN, 2017. "The perceived suitability of management accounting information: a contingency based investigation," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 15(147), pages 395-395.
    19. Francois-Xavier Mayegle & Solange Ngo Nguidjol, 2017. "Determinants of Choice of Management Control System in Cameroonian SMEs: A Contingency Approach," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 8(2), pages 25-42, May.
    20. Utz Schäffer & Michael Zyder, 2007. "Eine Analyse des moderierenden Einflusses der Faktoren Wettbewerbsintensität, Marktdynamik und dezentrale Autonomie auf die erfolgreiche Gestaltung der Budgetierung," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 7-33, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-016-0439-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.