Towards Understandable Accounting for SMEs: A Systematic Literature Review on Intelligent Systems for Financial Decision Support

The increasing use of intelligent systems in the accounting-financial field has created new opportunities to enhance decision making in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); however, it has also revealed challenges related to the comprehensibility of the accounting information they generate. In this context, this study aims to systematically analyze the state of knowledge on the use of intelligent systems for financial decision support in SMEs, with emphasis on understandable accounting. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted following the PICOC and PRISMA guidelines, complemented by a bibliometric analysis. The corpus comprised 54 scientific articles published between 2021 and 2026, retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Taylor & Francis. The analysis covered scientific productivity, impact, relational structure, thematic evolution, and strategic synthesis of the research domain. The findings indicate that artificial intelligence constitutes the core of the domain, integrating machine learning, digital transformation, and decision support systems. Nevertheless, limited attention is given to the interpretability, usability, and understanding of accounting information by SME decision makers. In conclusion, while intelligent systems are widely recognized as valuable tools for financial decision making in SMEs, a gap remains between technological advancement and accounting comprehensibility. This study offers a structured overview of the domain and outlines future research directions toward explainable, user-centered intelligent systems aligned with decision makers’ cognitive capabilities