Developing the Authenticity Framework of Electronic Business Records in SMEs Companies

Due to the dependency of ICT and technological advancement nowadays, most businesses are conducted electronically. This contemporary paradigm indirectly causes the creation of records especially the business records in an electronic form. The authenticity of an electronic record is a vital matter to be considered to suit its function as an electronic evidence of business transactions such as sales contract, deed to property and claims of ownership memo among others. In the context of Small to Medium Enterprises (SME), an authentic electronic business evidence is fundamental to the successful handling of unanticipated information security incidents. The inability of providing a complete series of authentic business records as an evidence towards the incidents may cause a critical problem in sustaining their business. It is more difficult for smaller business organizations to absorb the losses caused by crime-related incidents. This conceptual paper aims to develop the authenticity parameter of electronic business records and how it applies to SMEs.