Caution: JavaScript execution is disabled in your browser or for this website. You may not be able to answer all questions in this survey. Please, verify your browser parameters.

The impact of accounting information systems on the quality of financial information and decision making in Saudi Arabia

 

The survey is available in Arabic and English and you can change the language by clicking the top right of the page.

You are invited to participate in a research study examining the “Impact of Accounting Information Systems (AISs) on the Quality of Financial Information and Decision-Making in Saudi Arabia”. This study investigates how companies implement AIS and how the quality of financial information and decision making is benefitted after the AIS implementation. The result of the study will be useful for many organisations in SA to meet the 2030 vision in regard to the digital transformation objective as one of the objectives of the financial sector development program.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Key terms:

Accounting Information System (AIS): a system that collects, records, and processes data to produce financial information to decision-makers.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): it is an information system that integrates all types of business functions in one system under one common database to provide useful information for decision-makers.

Relative analysis of financial statements: is a comparison of a particular metric (available in any of the financial statements) of one company with the corresponding metric of another company within the same industry, or against the industry in which it operates in.

 

Through this survey, the term AIS is used to refer to the computerised AIS, cloud AIS as well as AIS within the ERP environment that is used in your company.

This survey will take approximately 15 minutes

Participation in this research is voluntary and anonymous. You are free to withdraw at any time, without explanation or penalty. You will not be able to withdraw your data after completing the research as data has been collected anonymously. Data will be non-identifiable and will be stored electronically in the hard drive of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) password protector laptop. No one can access the data except the researcher and the research team. The hard copy of the data will be shredded after 5 years of the publication of the thesis. Also, the digital copy will be deleted from the UTAS server.

 

Your time is appreciated, thank you.

 

There are 23 questions in this survey.
This survey is anonymous.

The record of your survey responses does not contain any identifying information about you, unless a specific survey question explicitly asked for it.

If you used an identifying token to access this survey, please rest assured that this token will not be stored together with your responses. It is managed in a separate database and will only be updated to indicate whether you did (or did not) complete this survey. There is no way of matching identification tokens with survey responses.

Part A

Instructions: Please tick one appropriate box or fill in the blank

(This question is mandatory)
1

Industry

(This question is mandatory)
2

Experience:

(This question is mandatory)
3

Highest education level

(This question is mandatory)
4

Do you have any type of Professional qualification in Accounting?

(This question is mandatory)
5

Age

(This question is mandatory)
6

Gender

(This question is mandatory)
7

What is your primary job function

(This question is mandatory)
8

What is the level of job responsibility?

(This question is mandatory)
9

What kind of software are you currently using in your company for the Accounting information system AIS?

(This question is mandatory)
10

Please indicate your MAIN ROLE relative to Accounting Information Systems (AIS);

 (Please tick one box only)

Part B

The following part seeks to assess the quality of AIS and its impact on the quality of financial information and decision making.  

Instructions: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of the following statements from your personal point of view by choosing one appropriate box from the range

strongly disagree to strongly agree. Please note that:

1= Strongly disagree. 2= Disagree. 3= Neutral. 4= Agree. 5= Strongly agree.

 

(This question is mandatory)
11
Statements
Timely relevant information can be derived from the Accounting Information System (AIS)
Segregation of duties has been implemented as part of the AIS
AIS used in your company is intuitive and easy to use
Non-financial attributes are embedded in the AIS
AIS used in your company automatically performs as much validation of data as possible
Modification to any approved data requires prior approval from the top management
Financial data stored in the AIS is integrated whole system wide
Use of paperwork has come to almost zero when using AIS in the company
Concurrent transactions are automated with proper notification
AIS used in your company is available when required to use
AIS used in your company is up-to-date
AIS used in your company is easy to modify / upgrade
Implementation of AIS was maintained using workflow charts
AIS is able to recover data following any failure
AIS used in your company is compliant with regulations for Companies in this country
Productivity, efficiency has increased after the implementation of AIS
Wastage of resources has been decreased after the implementation of AIS
Profitability and cash management efficiency has been increased after the implementation of AIS
Forecasting on operational plans are more realistic
Relevance and reliability of financial information has increased after the implementation of AIS
Predetermined criterion helps to reduce concurring decision making time
AIS helps management to make inventory decisions
AIS helps management to make income statement decisions
AIS helps management to make investments decisions
AIS helps management to make production decisions
AIS helps management to make a financing decision
AIS helps management to make marketing decisions
Customised information can be obtained from the AIS very quickly for better decision making
Time series analysis of financial analysis assists informed decision making
Evaluation of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) has been accelerated and accurate
Manipulation of financial information from AIS is very difficult
Financial data security has increased after the implementation of AIS
Automated financial reports can lack all the required information
AIS generated financial reports might be non-compliant with regulatory reporting format according to the corporate regulations
Updating of reporting format updates all past reports and can distort historical reports generated
Changes of financial reports require more time to integrate with AIS
Relative analysis of financial statements is difficult within AIS
‘What if’ analysis of financial information is limited in AIS with non-financial parameters
Addition of explanatory notes is not possible with automated financial reports in AIS
Impact of contingent events are not reflected in the AIS generated financial reports
(This question is mandatory)
12

How would you rate the overall financial information quality generated by AIS in your organisation? 

Notice " About the same" means that the quality of financial information doesn't change very much with or without the use of AIS  

(This question is mandatory)
13

How would you rate the extent of the impact of AIS on each of these following quality characteristics of financial information?

Relevance: AIS helps to disclose forward-looking information, information about business opportunities and risks, and provide feedback on how major market events and significant transactions affected entities

(This question is mandatory)
14
  • Reliability: AIS provides financial information, which users depend upon, is free from bias and material mistakes.
(This question is mandatory)
15
  • Comparability : AIS helps to disclose and explain all the changes in accounting policies and the implications of these changes to compare financial statements to determine the financial position, cash flow, and performance of an entity

(This question is mandatory)
16
  • Understandability : AIS presents and classifies information clearly and sufficiently, and the usage of language can be followed easily.

(This question is mandatory)
17
  • Timeliness: AIS reduces the period between the year-end and the issuing date of the auditor‘s report

(This question is mandatory)
18

What factors from the following do you think were considered in the stage of designing or adoption of the current AIS used in your company? (Check all that apply)

(This question is mandatory)
19

What style of decision making do you have?

20

In your opinion, how AIS impacts the quality of financial information?

21
In your opinion, how AIS impacts decision making?
22

In your opinion, what are other threats to the quality of financial information when using AIS?

23

In order to expand and improve my data collection, I would like to interview (online) some of AIS users of the organisation. If you are willing to be interviewed or if you want to refer someone to participate, please complete this section