The role of accountants in the implementation and maintenance of enterprise resource planning systems: A survey of the membership of the Institute of Management Accountants

The role of the accountant in a business environment has been evolving over the years. Besides traditional accounting knowledge, accountants need to possess other skills that are vital to their survival in an effective organization. Among those skills are knowledge sharing, the understanding of information systems design, systems development, and applications. One of the systems issues that accountants face is the implementation and maintenance of ERP (Enterprise resources planning) systems in the organization. ERP systems allow companies to integrate at all levels and to utilize important ERP application such as supply-chain management, accounting application, human resource and customer relationship management (Boubekri, 2001).; The purpose of the study encompasses two aspects. First it addresses the role of the accountant during the implementation and maintenance phase. The second purpose of the study is to find the characteristics, traits, and skills of accountants that can help them in a successful implementation and maintenance of ERP.; A survey was used to collect the data. It was sent to accounting or finance professionals of the Institute of Management Accountants with ERP experience. Two hundred nineteen responses were obtained. Regression analysis and Pearson correlation are used to find the relationship between the role of accountants and successful implementation of ERP systems. One-sample t test is used to find the difference between the phases during which accountants contribute. Regression analysis also examines the relationship between accountants who possess certain skills in addition to their financial expertise and their participation in ERP teams because of these skills. Paired-sample-t-test helps establish the difference between smaller companies that used more complex ERP combinations versus simpler combinations during both phases. Results confirm that there is a positive significant relationship between the contribution of accountants and the successful implementation of ERP. Also respondents spend most of their time during the implementation phase. Although knowledge sharing, business context, and technical skills show a positive relationship to the acceptance of accountants to ERP teams, only technical skills at the implementation phase passed the regression analysis test at the desired confidence level. The accountants' contribution working for smaller companies using a complex ERP configuration is highest during the post-implementation phase.