Abstract As information technologies grow more advanced, and as competitive pressures for innovation increase, customary ways of providing managers with information have become increasingly insufficient for decision needs. Organizations need computer information systems that help them achieve business, strategic and competitive goals. As accountants adjust to this evolving information environment, it is essential that they become more involved in designing information systems that provide decision support. This paper explores opportunities for accountants to contribute to systems design and identifies an intersection between accounting information systems (AIS) and management accounting. We urge accountants to focus their attention on the design of accounting/management information systems (A/MIS) to add competitive value to information, restructure their information contributions, and re-define the scope of AIS. In the process of exploring the broader scope of A/MIS opportunities, we first examine accountants' roles across categories of business focus: strategic, management, and task/operational systems. Then we describe design characteristics that influence the development of information systems within a business focus. By understanding these two constructs--the business focus of a system application and its design characteristics--accountants will be better able to identify, design and implement needed additions to information systems.
Brecht et al. (Sun,) studied this question.