The impact of enterprise systems on management accounting practice and on the role of the management accountant

Abstract

Recent advances in the corporate use of information systems, commonly referred to as enterprise systems (ES), they have been shown to have varied impacts on the management accounting function across organisations. Enterprise resource planning systems represent the primary ES form, but ES often consist of supplementary systems, such as business intelligence systems. Although a considerable body of research has been devoted to examining the impact that ES have on management accounting practice and the management accountant’s role, there still remains a limited understanding of the explanatory variables of those impacts (e.g. under what circumstances can ES facilitate the adoption of advanced management accounting techniques and the execution of advanced tasks by the management accountant?).This thesis addresses this gap in the literature. To this end, the critical realism (CR) philosophy has been adopted.


From an ontological perspective, CR research begins with some accepted phenomenon and attempts to identify what the circumstances must be like for this phenomenon to occur. From a methodological perspective, CR research endorses the application of mixed research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, which should be underpinned by pertinent theoretical approaches. This research project consists of three main research phases which incorporate one quantitative and two qualitative studies. In the first phase, a review of the related literature was undertaken in order to obtain insights regarding possible explanatory variables of the impact that ES have on the management accounting function. In the second phase, these insights were organised into pertinent measurable constructs by drawing on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, resulting to the development of a conceptual model of causal relationships which was then empirically examined via a survey of large and medium-sized organisations operating in Greece. Finally, based on sociomaterial theory, case studies were conducted in phase 3 of the research project.

The thesis is generally believed to make a threefold contribution in the literature. Firstly, it has enabled a more informed understanding of the impact that ES have upon management accounting practice by identifying the explanatory variables of the impact of ES on the utilisation of advanced MATs. Secondly, it has enabled amore informed understanding of the impact that ES have upon the management accountant’s role by identifying the explanatory variables of the impact of ES on the execution of advanced tasks by the management accountant. Thirdly, it has facilitated generalisations regarding the relationship between ES and management accounting to be made by gathering related evidence through the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Date of Award	May 2016
Original language	English
Supervisor	Joan Ballantine (Supervisor) & Anthony Wall (Supervisor)