Information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness
Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change
ISSN: 1832-5912
Article publication date: 7 June 2023
Issue publication date: 27 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Several conceptual works suggest that more digitalized information systems in management accounting have the potential to make this corporate function more effective. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the impact of information systems quality in management accounting on the effectiveness of management control systems. Additionally, this study examines the moderating effect of process automation.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey of 125 German Mittelstand firms and hierarchical regression analyses were used for data collection and analysis.
Findings
The findings confirm the assumed positive effect of information systems quality in management accounting on management control effectiveness. They also confirm the assumed moderating effect of process automation. The authors find that the relationship between information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness is more pronounced if the firm features a higher degree of process automation.
Originality/value
Several earlier case studies and a few quantitative studies indicated the potentially positive effect of high-quality information systems in management accounting on management control effectiveness. To the best of the authors‘ knowledge, this study is among the first to deliver quantitative proof of this relationship in the context of German Mittelstand firms. Moreover, the authors add to this literature the moderating effect of process automation in the relationship between information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on the first author’s master’s thesis submitted to the University of Siegen. The authors would like to thank Tobias Bürgel and David Pielsticker for their support in collecting the underlying survey data and the EQUA Foundation for financially supporting this survey. In addition, the authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for most helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Citation
Papiorek, K.L. and Hiebl, M.R.W. (2024), "Information systems quality in management accounting and management control effectiveness", Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 433-458. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-09-2022-0148
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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