Chinese cloudbusting SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China are, like SMEs around the world, benefiting from cloud-based accounting systems. However, while in many parts of the world adoption has been rapid, it is lagging behind in China. Research in the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions has looked at the reasons behind this.

Cloud-based accounting refers to financial software hosted on remote servers and accessed via the internet, rather than installed on a company’s own computers. This model allows firms to store financial data securely online, scale their usage as they grow, and collaborate in real time across different locations and devices. For SMEs, which typically operate with constrained budgets and limited in-house technical expertise, cloud flexibility can be a critical component to their day-to-day practices.

However, there is a gap between cloud potential and actual uptake. The team has used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to explain how users come to accept and use new technologies. TAM centres on two perceptions: perceived usefulness, meaning the extent to which a technology is believed to improve performance, and perceived ease of use, or how simple it is to learn and operate. These factors have been quoted widely in countless studies of cloud uptake across different countries. In the present study, though, these two factors alone were found not to account fully for the rate of uptake among SMEs in China.

The team found that there are other variables such as perceived security, cost-benefit evaluation, and government policy support. Perceived security explains how confident firms feel about storing their sensitive financial data in the cloud, particularly in a regulatory environment marked by strict cybersecurity and data protection rules. Cost-benefit evaluation reflects the sensitivity of an SME to financial constraints and their preference for investments that yield quick, tangible returns. The third factor, government policy support, refers to the role of subsidies, training programmes, and regulatory signals in encouraging digital adoption and may well be the most important factor of all in explaining the uptake of financial cloud computing among SMEs in China.

In China, where state involvement in the economy is more pronounced than it is in many other countries, policy frameworks and regulatory compliance play a central role in shaping business behaviour. This suggests that theories of technology adoption must be adapted to reflect regional institutional dynamics rather than treated as global one-size-fits-all explanations.

Feng, S., Roni, M. and Arham, A.F. (2026) ‘The adoption of accounting system based on cloud computing in Chinese SMEs: a research based on the technology acceptance model framework’, Int. J. Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, Vol. 13, No. 8, pp.1–30.