Many studies have emphasised the need to develop a fit between business strategy and information technology
(IT) strategy. Yet many firms struggle to achieve alignment and, to date, there has been relatively few studies of
alignment and in particular the factors that influence the alignment in small and medium sized firms (SMEs).
Reviews of accounting and information systems literature show that many studies have examined the alignment
between contingency factors and accounting information systems (AIS) design (Chong & Chong 1997; Chenhall
& Langfield-Smith 1998; Mia & Clarke 1999) or the alignment between contingency factors and IT
sophistication (Weill & Olson 1989; Henderson & Venkatraman 1993; Bergeron et al. 2001) particularly among
large firms. Chang and Jevons Lee (1992) argued that effects from these factors can be measured by the degree
of a firm’s information requirements, which according to Bolon (1998) would be made available by firms
investing in a more sophisticated information processing system. However, with the exceptions of El Louadi
(1998) and Rhee (2001), studies that focus on the alignment between information requirements and information
processing capacity are very rare, especially in the context of SMEs.