Investment in accounting information system and sales growth: An investigation of Nigeria small and medium enterprise

Previous studies indicated that most organizations do not invest in AIS because they do not know the importance of AIS to their organizational growth, while some that invested do not know it impacts on their organizational growth. This study examined investment in accounting information system and its effect on sales growth of Nigeria Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The specific objectives of the study are to; identify the factors that influence sales growth, and examine the relationship between investment in Accounting Information System (AIS) and sale growth. A total of 120 questionnaires were administered to management staff of each selected Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Lagos State, Nigeria. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for the study. The descriptive statistics employed include percentage frequency and charts to achieve the study objectives. The inferential statistics employed is multiple regression analysis while ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between investment in accounting information system and sales growth. Findings revealed that AIS investment, non AIS labor and AIS labor accounted for 82% of the variation in sale growth in the study area and that there is a relationship between investment in accounting information system and sale growth. Furthermore, it was revealed that AIS investment have the highest impact on sales growth (beta value = 0.944) followed by AIS labor (beta value = -0.018) while the variables that had the least impact on sales growth was Non AIS labor (beta value = -0.052). Conclusively, it was affirmed that a relationship existed between investment in AIS and sales growth. Consequently, government should implement a policy that will stimulate the investment in AIS by SME in order to improve their sales and in return have positive impact on economy development of the nation.   Key word: Sales growth, Accounting Information System (AIS) investment, non AIS labor, AIS labor.