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Kosaiyakanontcontrolling, especially for cost production and cash receipt and disbursement. Smallenterprises had moderate levels of perceived importance, focusing first on cashfollowed by cost production.Table 3: SME Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Importanceof Management Accounting for Decision-makingImportance for Medium Enterprise Small Enterprise SMEsDecision-makingonxˉ S.D level xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D levelPricing 3.71 .995 H 3.58 .911 H 3.59 0.920 HVolume to beproduced3.69 .869 H 3.49 .926 M 3.51 0.921 HOrder accepting 3.74 .885 H 3.36 1.055 M 3.40 1.044 MMake or buyproduct3.50 .862 H 3.29 1.070 M 3.31 1.052 MDrop product 3.26 1.037 M 3.00 1.138 M 3.03 1.130 MInvestment/expansion3.57 1.039 H 3.24 1.196 M 3.28 1.184 MTotal 3.57 .947 H 3.32 1.049 M 3.35 1.042 MNote: H = high, M = moderate.The results in Table 3 show that the level of perceived importance of managementaccounting in decision-making for medium enterprises was high and focused foremoston order accepting, while the perception level for small enterprises was moderate andfocused most on price setting .Table 4: SME Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Needfor Management Accounting for PlanningNeed for Medium Enterprise Small Enterprise SMEsPlanning of xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D levelSales 3.81 .804 H 3.96 .859 H 3.95 0.854 HProduction 3.79 .898 H 3.59 .895 H 3.61 0.896 HCash receiptedand3.98 .869 H 3.89 .896 H 3.90 0.893 HdisbursementInvestment /expansion3.90 .878 H 3.52 1.064 H 3.56 1.052 HProfit 4.12 .803 H 3.92 .935 H 3.94 0.924 HIncome taxes 3.93 .867 H 3.44 1.060 M 3.49 1.051 MTotal 3.92 .853 H 3.72 .951 H 3.74 0.945 HNote: H = high, M = moderate.The results in Tables 4, 5 and 6 show that both small and medium enterprises hadhigh levels of needs for management accounting in every aspect. Entrepreneurs inmedium enterprises ranked the need for management accounting in profit planning forplanning, cost production for controlling, and price setting for decision-making thehighest. In turn, entrepreneurs in small enterprises ranked sales volume for planning,cash for controlling, and price setting for decision-making the highest.149

KosaiyakanontTable 5: SME Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Needfor Management Accounting for ControllingNeed for Medium Enterprise Small Enterprise SMEsControlling of xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D levelSales 3.79 .842 H 3.77 .919 H 3.77 0.911 HCost ofproduction4.17 .696 H 3.84 .861 H 3.87 0.851 HCash receiptedand4.05 .731 H 3.90 .929 H 3.92 0.912 HdisbursementSelling andadministrative 4.07 .677 H 3.77 .964 H 3.80 0.943 HexpenseTotal 4.02 .736 H 3.82 .918 H 3.84 0.904 HNote: H = high, M = moderate.Table 6: SME Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Needfor Management Accounting for Decision-makingNeed for Medium Enterprise Small Enterprise SMEsDecisionmakingonxˉ S.D level xˉ S.D level xˉ S.D levelPricing 3.90 .850 H 3.82 .891 H 3.83 0.887 HProductionvolume above 3.90 .821 H 3.73 1.002 H 3.75 0.986 HbreakevenAccept ordering 3.90 .821 H 3.63 .986 H 3.66 0.973 HMake or buy 3.71 .864 H 3.51 .984 H 3.53 0.974 HDrop production 3.57 .770 H 3.17 1.094 M 3.21 1.072 MInvestment /expansion3.88 .803 H 3.51 1.096 H 3.55 1.075 HTotal 3.81 .821 H 3.56 1.008 H 3.59 0.995 HNote: H = high, M = moderate.Entrepreneurs at both small and medium enterprises showed a high perceived needfor management accounting with cash receipts and disbursement for planning, andhad quite high need levels for control. This supported the study of Collis & Jarvis(2002), who pointed out that small private companies placed strong emphasis oncontrolling cash.SMEs entrepreneurs had high level needs of management accounting for planning,controlling and decision-making especially in profit planning, cash, cost of production,and selling and administrative expenses. This supported prior research, which statedthat SMEs had independent ownership that kept close control as the principal decisionmaker taking part in every business action (Hill 2001; Chuang et al. 2007; Reijonen &Komppula 2007; Omerzel & Antoncic 2008; Nandan 2010).Hypothesis H 1 regarding the correlation between SMEs entrepreneurs‟ perception ofand need for management accounting was tested using a correlation coefficient. Theresults show that SME perceptions had positive correlation with their needs in everyaspect (Table 7).The positive correlation between the entrepreneurs‟ perceived importance of and needfor management accounting will stimulate a sense of enthusiasm for adopting150

Kosaiyakanontmanagement accounting to their needs (Hockey 1970; Pech & Cameron 2006). Also,if they perceive a need for it, they will open their minds to learning and increasingknowledge.Table 7: Correlation between Perception of and Need forManagement AccountingCoefficientCorrelation betweenMediumPerception and Need Small EnterpriseSMEsEnterprisePlanning .624** .379* .608**Controlling .604** .500** .601**Decision-making .642** .507** .634**Total .690** .513** .682**Note: * significant level of 0.05, ** significant level of 0.01.To examine hypothesis H 2 , whether perception of and need for managementaccounting differs between entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprise, a T-testwas performed. The results, in Table 8, show a statistically significant difference ofentrepreneurs‟ perception of management accounting in planning, controlling anddecision making at significance level of 0.01 or better.Table 8: Perception Differences between Entrepreneursof Small and Medium EnterprisesEnterprise N xˉ S.D t SigPlanningSmallMediumControllingSmallMediumDecision MakingSmallMediumOverallSmallMedium3804238042380423804237.2441.7124.1926.8619.9621.4881.2290.059.107.655.614.385.184.7819.1714.98-3.06 .002-3.63 .001-1.81 .071-3.51 .001Table 9: Need Differences between Entrepreneursof Small and Medium EnterprisesEnterprise N xˉ S.D t SigPlanningSmallMediumControllingSmallMediumDecision MakingSmallMediumOverallSmallMedium3804238042380423804222.3323.5215.2716.0721.3822.8858.9862.484.534.173.192.424.943.8111.779.19-1.63 .102-1.95 .055-2.35 .022-2.27 .027151

KosaiyakanontThere is only need for management accounting in decision making which smallenterprise was different from medium enterprise at significant level of 0.05 mean whilemedium enterprise needs for management accounting in planning and controlling werenot different between small and medium enterprise (Table9). Overall, small enterpriseperceptions of and needs for management accounting were different from those ofmedium enterprises.Medium enterprise entrepreneurs perceived the potential value and importance ofmanagement accounting more than their small enterprise counterparts. Mediumenterprise entrepreneurs‟ higher perceived importance might derive from their highereducational background, on average. This is supported by Hambrick & Mason (1984)and Omerzel & Antoncic (2008) who found that highly educated entrepreneurs orowner/managers seem to be more receptive to new ideas.In summary, for the first hypothesis (H 1 ), from the positive correlation found betweenSMEs entrepreneurs‟ perceptions and needs, it can be conjectured that the more theentrepreneur perceives the importance and useful of management accounting, themore they need it. Investigating the levels of perceptions and needs for the individualcomponents of management accounting (Table 1-6) supports the hypothesis as well.For example, for planning, SE and ME perceived the importance of cash the highestand perceived need for cash second highest. For controlling, the highest SEentrepreneurs‟ perception of and needs for was cash and for ME entrepreneurs wasproduction cost. For decision making, the highest SE entrepreneurs‟ perception waspricing whilst for ME entrepreneurs it was order accepting followed by pricing. So forboth, pricing was one of the highest needs. This indicated that entrepreneurs‟perceptions of management accounting (based on their skills, knowledge andeducation) were directly related to their needs. It is consistent with Pech andCameron‟s (2006) suggestion that if the entrepreneurs‟ sense of intuition (based onskills, knowledge, and willingness to take risks) sends positive signals concerning theinformation, the opportunity is then enacted through a high need for challenge andexcitatory stimulation. Finally, the finding of the correlation between entrepreneurs‟perceptions of and needs for management accounting is of abundant benefit to SMEsentrepreneurs in terms of enhancing their perceived knowledge in managementaccounting through their needs (by training or educating). For SMEs entrepreneurs innorthern Thailand, according to this study, they should strengthen their managementaccounting knowledge based on their needs (Table 4-6), which was sales volume,profit and cash in the planning function; cash, cost of production and selling andadministrative expense in the controlling function; and pricing, break-even pointvolume and order accepting in the decision-making function. The level of SMEsperceptions (Table 1-3) implies that they lacked management accounting knowledge inplanning in the areas of income taxes, investment for expansion and short-term loansolvency; investment expansion and sales for the controlling function; anddiscontinuing or dropping production, investment expansion and make or buy things inthe decision-making function.In terms of educating or training for SMEs entrepreneurs, the program design shouldfulfill their needs and their lack of knowledge. From the outcome of the differencebetween SE entrepreneurs and ME entrepreneurs in perceptions of and needs formanagement accounting (Table 8-9), training should be organized, with moreemphasis and frequency for SE entrepreneurs than ME entrepreneurs, especially forplanning and control.152

KosaiyakanontThis study was limited to SMEs in the production sector in northern Thailand andfocused only on the level of their perceptions of and needs for managementaccounting, rather than their specific knowledge or specific techniques in managementaccounting. Therefore, further study should investigate the specific knowledge andtechniques of management accounting in which SMEs are lacking. The new findingresult of the link between SMEs entrepreneurs‟ perception of and need formanagement accounting contributes to SMEs entrepreneurs‟ competenciesenhancement.5. ConclusionThe study indicated that entrepreneurs‟ overall perceived importance of managementaccounting‟s usefulness for SMEs was moderate, though when broken out byenterprise size, was high in medium enterprises and moderate in small enterprises.Entrepreneurs at both small and medium enterprises expressed a high perceived needfor management accounting in their businesses. The significant difference inperceived importance and needs between small enterprise and medium enterprisesprobably reflects differences in educational background and knowledge. Thecorrelation between perceived importance and perceived needs was positive. Thismight stimulate entrepreneurs‟ enthusiasm for learning about and adoptingmanagement accounting for use in their SMEs. Knowing the level of their needs andperceptions will be useful in designing appropriate training programs for them. Afuture study that identified the specific knowledge and techniques of managementaccounting lacking in SMEs would further benefit entrepreneurs‟ competencies andperformance.Endnotes1. SMEs in Thailand are classified as:SmallMedium# employees capital (THBm) #employees capital (THBm)Production

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