Assessment of accounting software customer satisfaction in private sector organizations of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The accounting software industry in Sri Lanka can be classified into three product market segments, one is the government sector which is backed by department of state accounts under ministry of finance, the second is the large scale private sector organizations using enterprise solutions, and the third is the large and SME private sector organizations using mass market accounting software packages. The private sector is backed by value added resellers of offshore accounting software products and domestic software development firms. Our research is focused in the segment of mass market accounting software packages and their usage. The major problem in the segment is although popular accounting software packages are available and being used by various organizations, many organizations are not fully satisfied with the solutions due to various reasons which fall under cither product aspects or service aspects. So there need to be an assessment done on accounting software product quality and service quality and find ways to improve customer satisfaction. The goal of the research is to identify the gaps between perceived and excepted customer satisfaction levels of accounting software products and services. This is accomplished by developing a conceptual model to measure the customer satisfaction. The resear chvariables measured under product quality assessment are: accounting software modules, features, customization capability, and technology. Under the service quality assessment, the five dimensions of popular SERVQUAL methodology (Parasuraman et al. 1988) are measured. Also the service provider image assessment is done b> measuring the service provider background coupled with overall product and servicequalities. Based on this approach recommendations arc made to promote the local accounting software industry.