Factors affecting the quality of accounting information systems in garment enterprises

Garment industry is a key industry of Vietnam. In order to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese garment enterprises, the provision of accounting information is essential for management and decision-making.

Therefore, determining the factors affecting the quality of accounting information systems in Vietnamese garment enterprises is a matter of great concern, helping garment enterprises to find the important factors to improve the accounting information system in particular and the information system in the enterprise in general in order to promptly meet the requirements of system users and effectively serve the administration. Question Accounting is a set of procedures, methods and techniques, including the identification, monitoring, recording, processing, storage, systematization, valuation, control and publication of phenomena affecting to the assets, financial position and profit of the enterprise (enterprise), ensuring conditions for continuous operation. The accounting information system (IT) has an influence on the effectiveness of budgeting, reporting, auditing and control activities (Soudani, 2012). The accounting information system has a close relationship with the management information system, the accounting information provided by the accounting information system is important in making decisions of managers and external parties (Tóth, 2012). . With the role of the accounting information system, studying the impact of factors on the implementation of the accounting information system is necessary for enterprises. Garment industry is a key industry of Vietnam. In recent years, Vietnam’s garment industry has made great strides and rose to become one of the five largest textile and garment producing and exporting countries in the world. The event that Vietnam joins the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has brought many potential benefits to Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, bringing domestic textile enterprises many opportunities and challenges. knowledge in the short and long term. In order to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese garment enterprises, the provision of accounting information is essential for management and decision-making. Therefore, determining the factors affecting the quality of the technical information system in Vietnamese garment enterprises is a matter of great concern, helping garment enterprises to find the important factors to improve the economic information system in particular and the economic information system in particular. information systems in the enterprise in general in order to promptly meet the requirements of system users and effectively serve the administration. Theoretical basis System Theory Systems theory has been around in the world since the 1940s (Bertalanffy, 1969). Based on the theory of systems, the accounting information system in enterprises is a subsystem of the management information system. Therefore, when studying the technical information system, it is necessary to consider the management information system as well. When considering measures to improve the effectiveness of the accounting information system, it is also necessary to put the accounting information system in the context of the enterprise and in relation to other parts of the enterprise. Based on the theory of systems, this study considers the theoretical background of the information systems in general, and also examines the relationship between the accounting systems and the information systems and other parts closely related to the information systems. The system theory provided for this study is the foundation for determining the factors affecting the quality of the technical information system. Random Theory Contingency theory is derived from organization theory and has been widely used by research since the 1950s and 1960s (Dwivedi et al., 2012). Contingency theory is based on two main findings: (i) There is no single best way to organize or manage a business; (ii) Each method of organization or management, when selected by enterprises, has different effects. For the study of information systems, randomization theory appeared in the late 1970s (Dwivedi et al., 2012). As for the TA, the stochastic theory suggests that the TA should be developed within an adaptive framework. Research on accounting information systems based on stochastic theoretical approach has suggested a number of factors affecting the quality of accounting information systems: job characteristics, user characteristics, user participation, process enterprise size, enterprise characteristics. Some studies on management information systems and accounting information systems have used randomization theory such as Gordon and Miller (1976); Nicolaou (2000)… Therefore, the application of stochastic theory to determine the factors affecting the quality of the technical information system is appropriate. Research Methods The author uses synthesis method, theoretical analysis and expert interview method. The objective of the qualitative research method is to find out how to measure the quality of the technical information system and determine the factors affecting the quality of the economic information system, associated with Vietnamese garment enterprises. The method of synthesis and theoretical analysis starts from synthesizing previous studies from different database sources to find out the theory of the quality of the accounting information system and identify the factors affecting the quality of the accounting information system. From the process of synthesizing previous research documents, the author analyzes to define the concept of the quality of the technical information system and propose the factors affecting the quality of the economic information system in Vietnamese garment enterprises. The method of interviewing experts was carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews. Patton (2002) said that, there is no principle to choose the number of research samples in interview research (or qualitative research). For semi-structured interviews, the quality of information and the source of information collected are the first things to pay attention to. Therefore, in order to ensure the information collection process, the author selected a research sample to interview 10 people who are leaders, staff of the IT/ICT department, staff of the finance and accounting department (accounting). chief, accountant) of Vietnamese garment enterprises. First, the author interviews experts to get a general assessment of the research topic. Next, the author conducts in-depth interviews with experts to adjust the scale and complete the official research model. Research results The results of the qualitative research method are useful information for the construction, evaluation and completion of the scales/indicators/attributes. Although the construction of the scales is based on previous studies by the author, it is necessary to adjust the scales to suit the research context at Vietnamese garment enterprises. The proposed technical information system quality scales have a high consensus of the interviewees and the sentences are adjusted to be more suitable with the research context of Vietnamese garment enterprises. For the factors affecting the quality of the accounting information system, the author proposes a number of factors based on previous studies and asks questions to the interviewees to find out the appropriate factors. The results of the selection of influencing factors by experts are shown in Table 1. Based on the results of the selection of factors affecting the quality of the technical information system, the selected factors have a rate of over 50% of the total number of experts’ opinions. The factors affecting the quality of the accounting information system (independent variable) were determined based on previous studies. The author intends to select 3 factors affecting the quality of the accounting information system, including: (i) Knowledge of accountants; (ii) Manager’s knowledge; (iii) Management support. Ismail (2009) said that managers with basic accounting knowledge and accounting information system, the quality of accounting information system is improved. In addition, managers’ knowledge of technology and accounting information system will help them make decisions to choose the technology and information systems that best suit the characteristics of enterprises. If the accountant has professional knowledge and experience, the system will be easier to use. The accountant’s experience with the accounting information system has a positive effect on the effectiveness of the accounting information system as well as the implementation of the accounting information system (Dehghanzade et al., 2011). Thong et al (1996) said that managers with knowledge and experience in technology and accounting information system will realize the importance of a quality accounting information system. From there, managers will make the right decisions in choosing the accounting information system in line with the enterprise’s objectives, promoting the quality of the accounting information system. Therefore, the author proposes a research model as Figure 1. The linear regression equation for the proposed research model is as follows: QAIS = a + b1*MK + b2*UK + b3*MS + e Inside: a: Constant b1, b2, b3: Regression coefficients of variables MK, UK, MS MK: Knowledge of managers UK: Knowledge of accountants MS: Management support e: Noise coefficient Conclude Accounting information is an important factor for businesses and state management agencies in the current context. The development of information technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution requires accounting information to be provided quickly, timely and accurately, effectively serving enterprises in making management decisions. Improving the quality of technical information systems is an important task of enterprises in general and garment enterprises in particular. Finding out the factors affecting the quality of technical information systems is very urgent. This helps Vietnamese garment enterprises to find out the causes affecting the quality of the technical information systems and to suggest about testing the research model related to the quality of the technical information systems for researchers of the technical information systems in the future. References 1. Nguyen The Hung (2006), Accounting information system (Theory, exercises and solutions), Statistical Publishing House, Vietnam; 2. Nguyen Phuoc Bao An (2018), ‘Factors affecting the success of accounting information systems in Vietnamese enterprises, PhD thesis, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City; 3. Soudani, SN (2012), ‘The Usefulness of an Accounting Information System for Effective Organizational Performance’, International Journal of Economics and Finance, 4; 4. Tóth, Z.(2012), ‘The Current Role of Accounting Information Systems’, Journal of Economic Literature, 8 (1), 91-95; 5. Bertalanffy, LV (1969), General system theory: Foundations, development, applications, George Braziller Inc; 6. Dwivedi, YK, Wade, MR & Schneberger, SL (2012), Information System Theory – Explaining and Predicting Our Digital Society, Vol. 1, Springer, USA.