The adoption of IT in management accounting: The expert systems experience

This article considers why, despite forecasts to the contrary and in spite of being apparently well-suited to the technology, management accounting-based expert system developments appear to be virtually non-existent. The manner in which organizational change develops and the theoretical justification for the suitability of the management accounting domain for expert systems developments are reviewed, and a number of hypotheses are considered before describing and reporting the results of a survey into the attitudes and environment of UK practising management accountants. The findings suggest that management accountants may lack both awareness of the term and understanding of the nature of expert systems and that they generally do not believe that software can be trusted to make their job easier and improve the consistency of their decision making. It is concluded that a major educational initiative may be required if there is to be any likelihood of a significant change from the current position.