The business environment has changed dramatically in the last years. The organizations are now more complex in terms of their structure and geographical dispersion. Daily, great amounts of information are produced and, to surpass these problems, organizations have invested in Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP). The same trends can be detected within the public sector. The interest generated by the ERP phenomenon is growing and the particularities of the public sector make specific studies necessary. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to examine the adoption process of ERP systems by public and private organizations. Which ERP modules are mostly adopted? Which reasons legitimate ERP adoption? Using a survey research methodology, this study reveals that the need to increase the demand for real-time information, to obtain information for decision-making and the integration of applications appear as main reasons to implement an ERP system. Although the reasons given are the same for public and private organizations, the results of this study also show that the modules implemented are slightly different; the importance or dominance of each module may differ; and the deployment time is shorter in the public sector. Since comparative studies are relatively scarce, our work helps to reduce this knowledge gap.

During recent years, public organizations have invested considerable resources in the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, even using solutions initially targeted for manufacturing companies. The interest generated by the ERP phenomenon in the public-sector still growing and the particularities of this sector make specific studies necessary. Just a few empirical studies have looked at public-sector motivations for ERP implementation and it appears from previous studies that organizational conditions of public and private organizations are different. This suggests that the reasons to implement ERP system may also differ. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to get an insight into how public organizations approach ERP implementation.Based on a survey of public organizations we try to identified and characterize the motivations that lead to the adoption of ERP systems, and to identify and understand modules adoption in the public-sector. Overall, our findings reveal that the need to increase the demand for realtime information, to obtain information for decision-making and the integration of applications appear as main reasons to implement an ERP system. The study also reveals that Financial Accounting and Material Management modules are the most implemented. This paper reinforces the need for more research focused on public sector organizations. Since literature on ERP implementation on public-sector is relatively sparse, our paper helps to narrow this knowledge gap.

Os sistemas ERP têm merecido alguma atenção dos investigadores, sendo a maioria dos estudos efetuados na fase de implementação do ERP. Porém, é na fase seguinte, fase pós-implementação, que se esperam maiores mudanças na contabilidade e nas competências exigidas ao profissional de contabilidade. Assim, e pretendendo colmatar esta lacuna, esta investigação incide nas competências exigidas ao profissional de contabilidade na fase pós-implementação do ERP. Para isso, é efetuado um estudo empírico, através de um inquérito por questionário, tendo se alcançado uma taxa de resposta de 51%. Os resultados indicam, que a implementação do ERP obriga o contabilista de gestão a adquirir novas competências e que estas exigências vão aumentando à medida que o tempo vai decorrendo.