Literature has revealed many works on the important of AIS to SMEs, most of the researchers’ result have shown the relevant and the challenging SMEs face in AIS adoption. However, this study bridges the gap, in analyzing the important of AIS adoption to SMEs through the business owners’ perception based on their; competitive strength, longer-term strategic goals and market expansion. This research was carried out in Ilorin, Kwara State. Primary data was used as a source of data. A well-structured questionnaire based on the research questions was used to establish the effect of AIS adoption on competitive strength, longer-term strategic goals and market expansion. 60 SMEs were randomly selected in Ilorin, Kwara State. Regression and correlation analysis was used analyzed the relationship between AIS and competitive strength, longer-term strategic goals and market expansion. The result obtained shows that AIS have a positive correlation with; longer-term strategic goals (.435) which is positively significant at α=0.05, competitive strength (.272) which is positively significant at α=0.01 and market expansion (.322) which is also significant positively at α=0.05. The study concluded that the importance of AIS adoption cannot be over emphasized in any business setup and the study recommendation that: AIS could be adopted by SMEs to improve non-financial performance like longer-term strategic goals, market expansion and competitive strength.
Keywords: Accounting Information System, Competitive Strength, Longer-Term Strategic Goals, Market Expansion, SMEs
