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The complexity of the Government’s environment provides greater challenges in making the AIS effective. Prior studies have reported many and inconsistent determinants of system effectiveness, as well as its measurement. This study intends to fill the gaps by understanding the phenomenon of the critical factors of AIS effectiveness for an on-going and stable system. This includes exploring the critical factors of AIS effectiveness and examining the factors that significantly influence the phenomenon. In addition, the condition of the identified factors is investigated based on perceived importance versus perceived performance. The effectiveness of AIS in this study is viewed from the perspective of user satisfaction. This study was conducted using multiple methods (qualitative and quantitative). The qualitative method includes group discussions, observation and semi-structured interviews. The qualitative findings were used to develop a survey questionnaire for the quantitative study on a larger scale. This study contributes to the literature by presenting a comprehensive measure of AIS effectiveness using a user satisfaction approach. In addition, the results emphasise the AIS main components that are crucial for the achievement of an effective system, which are user commitment, technology support function and teamwork. Furthermore, this study is different to earlier studies in that its findings uncover additional factors that are antecedents for the critical factors of AIS effectiveness. Moreover, the perceived importance-performance gap shows the benefit of the assessment in providing a strategic direction for management. Overall,this study has shed light on the investigated phenomenon by offering: a comprehensive measure of AIS effectiveness; the factors important in achieving an effective system; and further action to be taken by the management and the system’s users on each of those factors. Thus, in addition to academic literature contributions,practitioners will also derive benefits from the findings of this study.

The issue of information systems (IS) security has received considerable attention from both academics and professionals. Information systems security has become a major part of core business processes in companies of all sizes and types, and it has become more vital than ever for companies to have an organised, efficient, and proactive security approach to their IS. Despite this importance, a number of significant gaps exist in the academic literature. Most of the previous studies have dealt with IS security or information security in general, without particular attention to accounting information systems (AIS) security. Security research is fragmented, and most previous studies lack an overall and comprehensive view of AIS security issues. Each study has tended to deal with a particular security dimension. In addition, much research on IS security has been overwhelmingly focused on the technical aspects with limited consideration given to non-technical issues such as security policy, training and awareness, risk assessment or security budget. In an attempt to fill these gaps, the current study presents an integrated view of AIS security in UK companies by addressing both the technical and non-technical aspects of security. The current study aims to investigate the AIS security level among UK companies in different industry sectors by investigating the sources and types of AIS security threats, the different types of controls implemented to prevent or reduce security threats, and the existence of a management framework for AIS security within UK companies in different sectors. To achieve the research objectives, the current study employed quantitative and qualitative approaches using a postal questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The first stage involved sending a postal questionnaire to the IT managers of 800 UK listed companies in different industry sectors. A total of 104 responses were received, of which 65 responses were usable for statistical analysis. The second stage involved conducting nine interviews with IT managers of UK companies. The results indicated that some activities and practices forming the AIS security management framework are well known and undertaken by the majority of UK companies regardless of the industry sector for example AIS security policy, security risk assessment, security incident handling procedures, and a business continuity plan. However, security training and awareness program, security budget, and the British Standard for Information Security (BS 7799) are the most neglected security practices in the majority of companies. The results also showed that UK companies suffer from different types of security incidents however, many incidents go unreported because of the fear of negative publicity and the majority prefer to maintain their brand and to deal with these incidents internally. The results also revealed that employees are now the most common source of AIS security threats facing UK companies. In addition, the results suggested frequent occurrence of some types of security threats, for instance, employees' errors such as unintentional destruction of data by employees, spamming and malware attacks, and employees' sharing of passwords. Moreover, the majority of companies are paying more attention to software, hardware, input, and output security controls. However, more effort must be devoted to organisational and personnel controls.

The study is a two-part study starting with a nationwide survey in the private sector. The hypotheses derived from the Western literature were not significantly supported when the results were analyzed. It seems that the existing literature related to the phenomenon under investigation is mainly Anglo-Saxon culture oriented which is different from the Malaysian culture where the study was conducted. However, access barriers to private sector organizations shifted the focus of the research to the second part of the study that examined the issues in detail in four public sector organizations currently implementing accounting information systems – two hospitals and two universities. In the second part of the main study, the researcher developed formal and substantive propositions from the qualitative interviews which were substantiated using a cross-case analysis; as a result, a model for accountants’ participation in AIS implementation is proposed. The research shows that the process of influencing accountants to participate in AIS implementation is more complex than the literature suggests. There were many issues that surfaced during the case studies, such as conflict and empowerment which set a foundation for further research about how participation can be secured to help make the implementation of AIS part of an organizational agenda success.

This thesis investigates the factors that affect the take-up of statutory digital reporting of statutory accounts and returns to the tax authority (HM Revenue and Customs) and voluntary digital reporting to the company registry (Companies House) by small private companies in the UK. In doing so, it identifies the costs and benefits of this innovation from the perspectives of the filers and those using the digital information. The first stage of the study comprised 16 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders: HMRC, Companies House, the external iXBRL consultant at HMRC, filing software suppliers, and accountants in business and practice. The interview data was analysed thematically, aided by NVivo. The second stage involved an online survey of 343 ACCA members working in small companies or in practices with small company clients. The survey data were analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. As hypothesised, the results show a significant positive association between digital reporting and the company having the technological competence and between digital reporting and support for this from top management. As predicted, there is evidence of a significant negative association between digital reporting and the complexity of the process, and between digital reporting and the cost of technology. However, the study finds no evidence of a significant association between digital reporting and compatibility of digital reporting with the company’s accounting system, statutory requirements with government, or network effects. The results provide evidence of a significant positive association between digital reporting and benefits to filers, and between digital reporting and benefits to those using the digital corporate data. The latter association is mediated by the digital search and data services provided by Companies House. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to investigate digital reporting to HMRC after it became mandatory for small companies in the UK. The study contributes to the emerging literature by extending our knowledge of the costs and benefits of digital reporting by small companies. It contributes to theory by developing and validating a theoretical model of the factors affecting the take-up of digital reporting and by extending the model to provide further understanding of this technology. The results should be of interest to the directors of small companies and their accountants. They will also be of interest to policy makers seeking to reduce the administrative burdens on smaller entities in the UK and to regulators in other jurisdictions planning for digital reporting initiatives.