A SURVEY ON EFFECTS OF SELECTED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ON THE SUCCESS OF SMALL & MEDIUM SCALE BUSINESSES.This research study aimed at investigating the effects of accounting methods on small scale businesses in Thika town. Despite the enormous contribution of small and medium scale enterprises in Kenya and support by government as well as non-governmental organizations, many SMEs are opening up on daily basis, but majority of them still show massive failures with only a few surviving. The reason for carrying out this study was to address all effects of accounting methods and find out whether the failure was likely attributed to lack of application of accounting standards by determining and testing selected accounting standards. Most of the business’ success often depends on accounting. The standards need to be conducted regularly in order to improve the performance and enhance its survival. Inappropriately applied accounting standards can lead to failure and or decline in business performance. Accounting standards are one of the most commonly used management tolls in Kenya. Over 90% of large organizations including 75 percent of state employment systems require some type of accounting.The data collected was analyzed using Special package for social sciences (SPSS) computer program where the questionnaires were subjected to testing.Accounting standards is one of the most widely researched areas in industrial/organization psychology. However the traditional research agenda has done little to improve the usefulness of accounting standards as a managerial tool. SME owners’ perception of fairness on accounting standards has been studied as a significant factor in SME owners’ acceptance and satisfaction of accounting standards. Therefore, SME owners should select an accounting method which is the most efficient in their organizations. This research was help SME owners get expansions and improvements especially those in small and large towns, researchers was use it for future reference. In this project, I propose a framework for the selection of accounting standards and compare some accounting standards in order to facilitate the selection process for the organization can evaluate their performance with respect on the key features of it before implementing any method as well as expending extra costs. The researcher conducted a survey on performance measurement by sending out 100 questionnaires in Thika Town and attained response rate of 88%. The survey was done in order to obtain information regarding the effects of accounting standards on SME performance in Thika Town near Nairobi. The output of this study filled the gap amongst the entrepreneurs concerning why some SMEs were progressing while others were not by specifically pointing out with supportive evidence to lack of accounting standards as one of the most important performance constraints faced by SMEs.