The Perception of Risks of Austrian Micro and Small Enterprises in the Case of Outsourcing of Financial Business Processes

More than 99% of all European businesses are SMEs and their contribution to the European employment and value creation is very important. Studies have shown that many of these micro and small enterprises (MSE) are struggling to survive often as result of financial difficulties. The purpose of this research is to find out how many and which kind of MSEs outsource their accounting activities, the role of perceived risks in decision making process of outsourcing and to understand particularities when MSEs are confronted with outsourcing in financial process outsourcing. The research objectives are achieved by qualitative studies finally examining 181 MSEs representing the Austrian business structure. The finding of the study show that 59% of the MSEs have outsources the accounting activities. Sizes of the MSEs matters insofar as the bigger the company the higher the quote of in-house accounting. The research shows also that additional costs, the loss of control and the increase of complexity are the risks most intensively perceived by MSEs. In contrast, the risk dimensions information security, dependency, social or moral problems or bad performance are perceived only by 30% or even less of the interviewed MSEs. Summing up, the study tries to provide a better understanding of perceived risks when MSEs consider outsourcing accounting activities.