A Review of ERP Research: A Future Agenda for Accounting Information Systems

ABSTRACT: ERP systems are typically the largest, most complex, and most demanding information systems implemented by firms, representing a major departure from the individual and departmental information systems prevalent in the past. Firms and individuals are extensively impacted, and many problematic issues remain to be researched. ERP and related integrated technologies are a transformative force on the accounting profession. As the nature of business evolves, accounting expertise is being called on to make broader contributions such as reporting on nonfinancial measures, auditing information systems, implementing management controls within information systems, and providing management consulting services. This review of ERP research is drawn from an extensive examination of the breadth of ERP-related literature without constraints as to a narrow timeframe or limited journal list, although particular attention is directed to the leading journals in information systems and accounting information systems. Early research consisted of descriptive studies of firms implementing ERP systems. Then researchers started to address other research questions about the factors that lead to successful implementations: the need for change management and expanded forms of user education, whether the financial benefit outweighed the cost, and whether the issues are different depending on organizational type and cultural factors. This research encouraged the development of several major ERP research areas: (1) critical success factors, (2) the organizational impact, and (3) the economic impact of ERP systems. We use this taxonomy to establish (1) what we know, (2) what we need, and (3) where we are going in ERP research. The objective of this review is to synthesize the extant ERP research reported without regard to publication domain and make this readily available to accounting researchers. We organize key ERP research by topics of interest in accounting, and map ERP topics onto existing accounting information systems research areas. An emphasis is placed on topics important to accounting, including (but not limited to) the risk management and auditing of ERP systems, regulatory issues, the internal and external economic impacts of ERP systems, extensions needed in ERP systems for XBRL, for interorganizational support, and for the design of management control systems. See Supplemental Material.