The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) on Management Accounting: A Review of Literature and Directions for Future Research

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have become one of today’s popular Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the changing business environment. According to Hunton (2002, p56), ‘the blending of ICT and business process integration manifests itself in enterprise resource planning systems’. A number of recent studies have investigated the impact of ERP systems on management accounting and control (e.g., Granlund and Malmi 2002, Scapens and Jazayeri 2003, Quattrone and Hopper 2005, Kholeif, Abdel-Kader and Sherer 2007, Jack and Kholeif 2008, Hyvonen, Jarvinen, Pellinen and Rahko 2009). In this regard, Chapman (2005, p685) argues that studies in this area should view ERP systems not as technological curiosities but as vehicles through which fundamental questions concerning the nature of management accounting and control may be both asked and answered. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in management accounting change and stability (Burns and Scapens 2000, Chanegrih 2008, Yazdifar, Zaman, Tsamenyi and Askarany 2008, Johansson and Siverbo 2009). For example, Burns and Scapens (2000, p3) state that Management accounting change has become a topic of much debate in recent years. Whether management accounting has not changed, has changed, or should change, have all been discussed.