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This study was aimed at verifying how the accounting firms that elaborate the accounting records of micro and small Brazilian companies utilize information systems in the development of their activities, by questioning if the application software they adopt is regarded as commodities or as strategic tools able to create a competitive differential. It was an explanatory research with data collection through the application of questionnaires to eighty accounting firms based in the city of Belo Horizonte, twenty of which completed the questionnaire properly. It was found that 95% of the surveyed accounting firms regard their application software as essential to the infra-structure of their organizations, and 60% also view such software as a competitive differential. It is worth while highlighting that 80% of the respondents utilize the same application software, being the main reason for its purchase the cost x benefit brought by the system. Therefore, it could be concluded that the utilized software is seen as a commodity since it does not present a differentiated way when it comes to the management of the accounting firms.

Service providers; Evolution of the accounting firms; Accounting Information Systems; Application Software; Accounting