Theory and Progression

The study explores the economic impact of the online accounting system on the small businesses in Australia. Thus, the paper has different aspects, such as, advanced accounting technology and its economic impact on the small businesses in the Australian economy. It has been discussed in the introduction chapter that technological advancement has changed the business operations in all types of industries. For example, the introduction of online accounting technology has improved the efficiency of the business operations of the small businesses than the manual accounting system (Lee and Choi, 2003). This research study will explore the effective implementation of the online accounting technology to achieve increasing returns for the small businesses and thus, various dimensions of this new technology will be studied through 4 articles.

A structured literature review will be conducted to highlight the common and different themes of four articles related to this research subject to gain an extensive knowledge about the topic and also to have an idea about the managerial implications of the articles. Another purpose of this structured review is to highlight the study limitations and future scope of study on this topic. The chosen four articles are:

1. “The Impact of Online Accounting Software as a Credit Management Tool on Small Business Cash Flow”, by Olamide Osinowo (2018)
2. “Examining Small Business Adoption of Computerized Accounting Systems Using the Technology Acceptance Model.” By Alan D. Rogers. (2016)
3. “Impact of E-Accounting in Today’s Scenario”, by Hajera Fatima (2016)
4. “The Economic Trends, Challenges and Behaviour of Small Businesses in Australia” by Sam Nicholls and David Orsmond (2015)

All the four articles have focused on various e-accounting technologies and their impact of technology on the small businesses. Osinowo (2018) has explored various online accounting systems (OAS) for evaluating the effectiveness of the standard online accounting systems in the small businesses in the UK economy. The author also explored the effectiveness of the standard OAS in improving the cash flow situation in the credit management system. Rogers (2016) explored the effectiveness of the technology acceptance model and computerized accounting systems (CAS) in the context of small businesses and he found that failure to implement the new technology leads to competitive disadvantage of the small businesses. Fatima (2016) highlighted the effect of E-accounting in the modern business scenario and it has been found that using new technologies increases the speed as well as efficiency of the businesses of any size. The digitized form of records is also beneficial for maintaining the records for a long time and allows real time access in a short span of time. Lastly, Nicholls and Orsmond (2015) focused on the economic trends, challenges and behavior of small businesses in Australia in their publication for RBA. In this publication the authors explored the contribution of the small businesses in the economic growth and provided evidences in terms of data that the small business sector is growing rapidly and with the help of new technology, the growth of this sector has been more rapid. Thus, it can be said that in all the four articles the authors have been successful in proving that implementation of the new OAS, such as, CMAM, CAS, etc. have helped in improving the speed and efficiency of the small businesses, which otherwise was not happening during manual accounting systems or technology.

Although all the four articles have focused on the effectiveness of new OAS on the business efficiency of the small businesses, it can be said that, there are various other factors that affect the business efficiency and performance. Osinowo (2018) used descriptive exploratory research method for his study and to evaluate the causal relationship between the dependent and independent variables, Osinowo adopted only quantitative analysis method. In the paper by Rogers (2016), the evaluation of the new system was done by using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the causal relationship was examined by applying mixed methodology, that is, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods and both the primary and secondary data have been collected. Fatima (2016) used only secondary data for her study on the E-accounting technology and applied explanatory research approach for evaluating the effectiveness of the E-accounting. Lastly, Nicholls and Orsmond (2015) have also used secondary data to present their article on various facets of the small businesses in the Australian economy. Some visual representations of the primary data collected from the participants have been provided but that mainly followed descriptive analysis with the help of mathematical models.

Common Themes across 4 Articles

Thus, it can be said from the findings that, all these four articles have used different research methodology and different data types, which is beneficial to understand the outcome of the researches from various different angles. From the papers, it can be said that Nicholls and Orsmond (2015) have focused more on the several aspects of the small businesses in the more extensive way and put less focus on the economic impact of the new technologies. On the other hand, in the other three articles, different types of technologies have been examined for assessing their impact on the businesses, however, the countries were different along with different research methodologies and type of technology and therefore, the uniformity or consistency of the outcome cannot be guaranteed.

The managerial implications of these 4 articles can be stated that these papers provide a perspective on the impact of new online accounting systems on the business performances. Different types of technologies have been evaluated by the authors and their causal effect on the business performance for the small businesses in different countries has been studied too. The managers of the small businesses in Australia can utilize this information to make decisions to adopt a new OAS, suitable for their business set up and accordingly make policies and strategies for effective utilization of the new system. For example, the small businesses of the Australian economy can take cues from the RBA publication to have an idea about the growth scenario for the small businesses in Australia in terms of profit, wage growth, employment size etc. Based on those findings, the companies can compare their own resources and decide on implementing a suitable system accordingly. Similarly, the other authors have explored the impact of different OAS systems and technologies, which will help the businesses to choose a suitable technology. For example, Osinowo (2018) highlighted the benefits of the CMAM as a strategic tool, which improves the efficiency of the cash flow situations of the small businesses and in their value chains, while Rogers (2016) discussed about the CAS and its effectiveness, and Fatima (2016) discussed about the overall benefits of the E-accounting technologies for the businesses. The business managers can go through the findings and understand the pros and cons of these different technologies and can take actions accordingly. These articles at the same time also discuss about various external elements that affect the business performance and depict how the small businesses can implement the new technologies to control their internal elements and improve performances.

The study has few limitations. Firstly, there are numerous online accounting tools in the market that are effective in improving the performance of the small businesses, however, it is not possible to study and compare every technology or tool at the same time. This is a time as well as budget consuming process. Hence, the researcher must narrow down the research topic for an in-depth study. Secondly, every business situation is different and hence, application of any particular random technology might not be beneficial enough for the business. Thus, generalized solutions are not always useful. In addition, prediction of a particular technology is also not feasible as every business goes through different conditions.

The future research direction can entail an in-depth research about finding the most commonly used technology that can be used as a general technical solution for majority of the small businesses in Australia. Hence, the businesses should be studied more extensively to find out some general characteristics so that a general technology of online accounting can be suggested. Secondly, more studies should be undertaken to explore the other online accounting tools in the market to know about their impact on various aspects of the businesses. This way people can know more about the new technologies and their pros and cons and ways to utilize those in the best possible manner.

References

Fatima, H., 2016. Impact of E-Accounting in Today’s Scenario. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR), 6(1), pp.260-264.

Lee, H. and Choi, B., 2003. Knowledge management enablers, processes, and organizational performance: An integrative view and empirical examination. Journal of management information systems, 20(1), pp.179-228.

Nicholls, S. and Orsmond, D., 2015, March. The economic trends, challenges and behaviour of small businesses in Australia. In Proceedings of the Reserve Bank Annual Conference (pp. 5-31).

Osinowo, O., 2018. The impact of online accounting software as a credit management tool on small business cash flow (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff Metropolitan University).

Rogers, A.D., 2016. Examining Small Business Adoption of Computerized Accounting Systems Using the Technology Acceptance Model.