Information Technologies : Challenge and Opportunity for Modern Management Accounting Systems

After the early 90's, when much good work was carried out on the indirect impact in the area of management accounting brought about by production technological recent changes, research interest seems to have focussed on the analysis of the direct relationship between Information Technologies (IT) and Management Accounting Systems (MAS). The purpose of this paper is to analyse this relationship, as a challenge and opportunity for modern MAS in new firms. For this analysis, it establishes a proposal of integrated and flexible MAS for the best placed firms in today's competitive environment. After this, it examines the advantages and disadvantages of the new technological tools available, in order to justify, finally, the most appropriate answer to the initial information system proposal