| Author(s) | Mohammed H. Al-Moghaiwli |
| Affiliation | Assistant Professor, Accounting Department College of Administrative Science, King Saud University P.O. Box 2459, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | An Empirical Evidence on Accountants’ Use of Spreadsheets in Saudi Arabia |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Administrative Sciences. Volume 15, No 2. (2003/1423) |
| Abstract | Abstract. This study aims at collecting empirical evidence on accountants’ use of spreadsheets in Saudi Arabia. Awareness of the importance of spreadsheets to accountants emerged first in the technologically developed countries in the early 1980s, but increasingly has attracted a great deal of attention in many different countries over the last twenty years. Factors that affect users’s attitudes in choosing among alternative spreadsheet applications are established through Davis’s Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Using this Model, the current study hypothesizes that: (1) the more a spreadsheet software is perceived to be useful for the job, the more it is used by Saudi accountants [The Perceived Usefulness (PU) Hypothesis], and (2) the more a spreadsheet software is perceived to be easy to use, the more it is used by Saudi accountants [The Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) Hypothesis]. The descriptive findings indicate that: (1) about 97% of accountants used spreadsheets in Saudi Arabia; (2) Excel is the preferred spreadsheet application in the country; and (3) basic record-keeping, depreciation, operating budget and management reports are clearly the tasks most frequently undertaken with spreadsheets. The findings of the multivariate tests: (1) support the Perceived Usefulness (PU) Hypothesis and indicate that perceived usefulness (PU) variable is a determinant of spreadsheet use in Saudi Arabia, and (2) lend weak support to the Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) Hypothesis. Although this study has limitations, it has a contribution to knowledge. Incorporating these results and related spreadsheet skills into accounting courses would make accounting teaching reflecting the needs of accounting practices and produce accounting graduates who possess a broad array of computer skills and knowledge. Managers of domestic organizations may also get benefit from the results in that they may stress a factor like usefulness of new spreadsheet software in user training programs. For example, comparing the value of Excel to manual systems in making the work of accountants easier and more productive should lead to better implementation of spreadsheets. This study is also of high interest to providers of technology. Over the past years many companies from developed countries have been globalizing their business. Providers of technology may therefore be interested in understanding how and why technology has or has not been used by less developed nations. |
