国际商务英语毕业论文范文(英文)
2. Literature Review 2.1 The integration of ERP systems into management accountingExpectations for ERP systems to change management accounting were introduced by Kaplan and Cooper (1998, pp. 11-24), especially with the fourth of their four-stage model for cost and performance measurement systems. When a company had first stage systems, those systems were basically inadequate for all purposes, even for financial reporting. When they make improvements, the first stage companies tend to add financial systems to meet regulatory requirements. As a result, they evolve into second stage systems where financial reporting systems dominate; these companies are financial reporting driven. The companies with third stage systems have customized, managerially relevant cost management, financial reporting, and performance measurement systems, however, these systems are standalone. ERP systems only occur with the fourth stage systems where the ERP systems integrate cost management, financial reporting, and performance measurement (Kaplan and Cooper, 1998, p. 299).
An ERP system has a common data structure that permits data to be entered and accessed from anywhere in the world (Kaplan and Cooper, 1998, p. 275). An activity-based costing system is an integral part of an ERP system, and thus managers have information about present and future activities at operational levels when making decisions (Kaplan and Cooper, 1998, pp. 275-277, 285). With activity-based information, monetary distortions can be reduced. Feedback with activity information improves learning. Thus, in managing at the activity level, costing, budgeting, performance measurement, bonuses, resource spending, forecasting, budgeting, production, etc. can beimproved in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. An ERP system will allow the company to obtain cost and performance information more frequently, even daily, rather than waiting a month (Kaplan and Cooper, 1998, p. 279).
Kaplan and Cooper (1998, pp. 301-306) state that the integration with ERP systems allow all managerial processes, including budgeting, what-if analysis, and transfer pricing to be also based on activities rather than only dollars. Activity-based budgeting gives companies the opportunity to authorize and control resources based on accurate demand information. Accuracy increases because activity-based budgeting is based on facts, and less upon power, influence, and negotiating ability. Furthermore, the activity-level focus of budgeting leads to more accuracy in forecasting the demands for all direct and, especially indirect activities.
At the same time as Kaplan and Cooper’s (1998) important book, Davenport (1998, p. 122) wrote “the business world’s embrace of enterprise systems may in fact be the most important development in the corporate use of information technology in the 1990s.” Davenport (1998, p. 127) expected companies to change with the implementation of ERP systems:
In addition to having important strategic implications, enterprise systems also have a direct, and often paradoxical, impact on a company’s organization and culture. On the one hand, by providing universal, real-time access to operating and financial data, the systems allow companies to streamline their management structures, creating flatter, more flexible, and more democratic organizations. On the other hand, they also involve the centralization of control over information and the standardization of processes, which are qualities more consistent with hierarchical, command-and-control organizations with uniform cultures.
The paradox with ERP systems – streamlined, flatter, and more flexible and democratic (i.e., more control at the frontline) and centralization of control over information and the standardization of processes (i.e., more control at the centre) -- makes Davenport (1998, p. 131) ask how will ERP systems affect companies? Another equally relevant question would be, how will ERP systems affect management accounting? Taken together, Kaplan and Cooper (1998) and Davenport (1998) suggest that ERP systems will change companies, but these researchers do not specify the nature of these changes. They certainly do not explicitly specify how ERP systems will impact on management accounting. Nevertheless, it is possible to infer that changes will occur to management accounting from the integration among cost management, financial reporting, performance measurement, and all other systems. Thus, it is not surprising that there has been some exploratory research prompted by Kaplan and Cooper (1998) and Davenport (1998) on the impact of ERP systems on management accounting.
[NextPage]
2.2 The practical application of ERP systems – capital budgeting.
As previously outlined, a field study conducted by Cook et al. (2000), described the operation of activity-based capital budgeting as a division of a US telecommunications company. In their study Cook et al. found that the activity information was linked to the financial accounting system, thus behaving like an ERP system for the purpose of capital budgeting. This approach went beyond the traditional capital budgeting by linking the traditional incremental monetary revenues and costs with underlying activities. The authors concluded that by separately identifying the level of revenues and costs associated with process activities, the uncertainty with such activities and related revenues and costs can be closely examined. They added that this activity-level capital budgeting gives managers far more information and understanding than possible from the traditional financial simulation of aggregated income-statement approach. Their arguments were convincing but could not be verified.
Hope and Fraser (2001; 2003) disclosed that some companies have ceased traditional budgeting processes. Four reasons have been put forward by Hope and Fraser (2001) as to why existing budgeting processes are failing:
- few companies are satisfied with their budgeting processes
- far too much time is spent on budgeting and too little time is spent on strategy
- Financial capital is now a small part of market value
- Budgeting is expensive and adds little value either to the company or its users (Hope and Fraser, 2001, pp. 7-8).
They claimed that hierarchical companies have devolved to networks, where the planning capacity and control inherent in budgeting can be accomplished by other means (Hope and Fraser, 2003, p. 108). ERP systems, which they label enterprise-wide information systems, are important for eliminating budgeting, particularly when accompanied by the balanced scorecard, shareholder value models such as EVA, activity-based costing and management, rolling forecasts, and benchmarking (Hope and Fraser, 2001, pp. 5-6).
Some of the companies identified by Hope and Fraser (2003) -- for example, the Scandinavian bank, Svenska Handelsbanken, -- abandoned budgeting before ERP systems. This suggests that, for those companies, ERP systems would not have been essential for effectiveness without budgeting. Perhaps, ERP systems will allow contemporary companies, with ERP system, to be effective without budgeting. The impact of ERP systems on budgeting is still an empirical question.
It was noted from the findings of Cook et al. (2000) and Hope and Fraser (2001, 2003) that there was a lack of empirical studies on the impact of information technology on capital budgeting. Additional empirical testing was provided by Granlund and Malmi (2002). Following from Kaplan and Cooper (1998) they noted the “lack of studies examining the organizational and behavioural aspects of these systems” (p.300). Their purpose was “to examine the effects of integrated, enterprise-wide information systems on management accounting and management accountants’ work.” As they concluded there was “no scientific evidence on the research topic” the