ERP systems and management accounting change: opportunities or impacts? A research note

Abstract

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP, have become widely used in recent years, especially in large companies. Although a considerable amount has been written about them in the professional accounting and computing literature, somewhat surprisingly comparatively little attention has been given to them in accounting research journals. However, the field studies which are beginning to appear suggest that ERP systems are having only a relatively moderate impact on the character of management accounting and the work of management accountants. However, it is argued in this paper that as such studies adopt a relatively 'static' approach, they do not explore the processes of management accounting change or study how opportunities are opened up by the implementation of ERP systems. The paper reports a longitudinal case study of the implementation of SAP in the European division of a large US multinational, in which management accounting change is viewed as an evolutionary process. In this case, although there were no fundamental changes in the nature of the management accounting information used following the implementation of SAP, there were changes in the role of management accountants - in particular: (i) the elimination of routine jobs; (ii) line managers with accounting knowledge; (iii) more forward-looking information; and (iv) a wider role for the management accountants. However, it is not claimed that SAP was the driver of these changes; rather it is argued that the characteristics of SAP (specifically, its integration, standardization, routinization and centralization) opened up certain opportunities and facilitated changes which were already taking place within the company. The paper ends with a call for further longitudinal case studies of the implementation of ERP systems to study how these characteristics facilitate and reinforce processes of management accounting change in other companies.

ERP implementations and their impact upon management accountants

“…Booth et al 2000;Maccarone, 2000;Granlund and Malmi, 2002;Granlund and Mouritsen, 2003;Caglio, 2003;Hyyon, 2003;Lodh and Gaffikin, 2003;Quattrone and Hopper 2003;Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003] suggests that ERP systems have little impact on management accounting, but that the management accountant is evolving into a business consultant (Caglio 2003;Rom and Rohde 2004). This is consistent with the theoretical stance on the role of the accounting in an events-based system environment as first presented by Denna et al (1993, p. 16) and further developed by Hollander et al (1996, p. 14).…”

“…Booth et al (2000) found similar results, as did Rom and Rohde (2004), who concluded that Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) systems had a positive impact on management accounting practices whereas ERP systems only had a positive impact on transactional management accounting (e.g., data collection). Scapens and Jazayeri (2003) found that under ERP there was no fundamental change in the nature of management accounting information. However, there were changes in the role of management accountants compared with those in traditional accounting environments:…”

Oczekiwania jednostek sektora zamówień publicznych w zakresie wsparcia rachunkowości zarządczej przez zintegrowane systemy zarządzania

“…problematyki wykorzystania systemów do obliczania finansowych i niefinansowych wskaźników pomiaru dokonań [Spathis, Constantinides 2004], określenia, czy i jaki wpływ wywiera wdrożenie zintegrowanego systemu na stosowany system rachunkowości zarządczej [Scapens, Jazayeri 2003], czy jaki wpływ ma wdrożenie ERP na postrzeganie roli specjalisty rachunkowości zarządczej [O'Mahony, Doran 2008]. 4) Badania dotyczące wsparcia przez systemy ERP implementacji metod rachunkowości zarządczej w jednostkach sektora publicznego.…”

Management Accountant’s Role and Functions in the Enterprise Resource Planning Environment – Author’s Own Research into Enterprises in Poland

“…Researchers are increasingly interested in issues arising from the evolution in the roles and functions of management accounting specialists, seeking also to establish where the changes come from (in Poland Sobańska, 2003;Sobańska, Wnuk 2000;Szychta 2002, etc. ;and abroad Burns, Scapens, 2000;Scapens et al 2003).…”