Research Report: AIS Impact on Management Decision Making in Australia

This report delves into the impact of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) on management decision-making, drawing insights from four articles. The report begins with an introduction to the research topic: the impact of AIS on management decision-making within the context of the Australian retail sector, using a case study approach focusing on Sydney. It summarizes the articles, highlighting the theoretical frameworks and key findings, such as the importance of AIS in small and micro-scale organizations, the role of AIS in planning and controlling, and the implementation of AIS in various business contexts. The report discusses the common and different themes across the articles, emphasizing the evolving role of accounting as a strategic tool. Managerial implications are explored, emphasizing the need for organizations to develop effective AIS, provide employee training, and adopt predictive modeling. The report concludes by acknowledging limitations and suggesting directions for future research, including the use of mixed-method analysis and further investigation of theoretical models like the Managerial Accounting Data Analytics (MADA) framework. The report provides a comprehensive overview of AIS and its impact on business management.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Applied Research Methodology
Name of the student
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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 2
Summary and theories across four articles............................................................................................ 2
Common themes across four articles.................................................................................................... 3
Different themes across four articles..................................................................................................... 3
Managerial implication of the four articles.............................................................................................. 3
Study limitations and future research direction......................................................................................3
References............................................................................................................................................ 5

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Topic: The impact on Accounting Information System in Management Decision Making in Australia: A
Case Study on Retail Business in Sydney.
Introduction
This research evaluates four articles on accounting information system and management
decision making. The four articles have been used to develop a summary along with the relevant
theoretical frameworks in each case. It has critically discussed the common themes among the four
articles and the different themes. The managerial implication of each of the articles has been
discussed based on the findings. The limitation of each research has been discussed to identify future
scope of the research.
Summary and theories across four articles
Allah et al. (2013) have described the use of accounting information system in the fast food
industry taking into consideration the small scale organizations. The author has made the assumption
that use of accounting information system is limited in case of small scale organizations which results
in the failure of the small and micro scale organizations. The lack of adequate accounting system
results in the lack of success. The main purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which
small and micro scale organizations are implementing accounting information systems. The research
conducted empirical analysis to analyse the implementation of accounting information system by the
small scale organizations operating in the fast food industry. The literature review evaluated the
different factors affecting the success and sustainability of the small scale businesses and importance
of AIS systems in decision making. The findings suggested that small scale companies consider AIS
as a key tool in better circulation of information and measuring growth of businesses. However, these
SMMEs have been reluctant in using the AIS systems and prefer using manual systems.
Jawabreh and Alrabei (2012) examined the role of accounting information system in
controlling, planning and decision making. The descriptive analytical model has been used for
collecting data and performing statistical analysis on the data. The research has examined the past
literature to examine the importance of accounting information system in decision making. The
statistical analysis of the data collected from the account department showed that the hotel has failed
to implement AIS systems effectively. Jodhpur hotels have not used AIS system in making effective
financial decisions. This shows that the hotel has not been able to implement AIS effectively into the
organizational processes which has resulted in the lack of efficiency in the systems.
Buljubašić and Ilgȕn (2015) highlighted the extent of use and role of accounting information
system is Bosnia and Herzegovina and the way it has impacted the decision making processes of
various business organizations. The research has performed an empirical analysis to examine
whether the companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina use AIS for decision making or not. This research
has highlighted the different characteristics of accounting information system where functionality,
reliability, usability, efficiency, portability and maintainability are key factors. The analysis of the
questionnaire and the survey has showed the use of accounting information system is being adopted
more and more by organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, the advancement of
technology has resulted in the implementation of information system is different processes within the
organization. A large amount of organizations always use information systems to make decisions in
their business and there are others that use accounting information system on some occasions.
However, there are very few organizations that do not make use of accounting information systems in
effective decision making processes.
Appelbaum et al. (2017) has evaluated the influence of enterprise resource planning and
business analytics on decision making accounting aspect of management. This research has
proposed a Managerial Accounting Data Analytics (MADA) framework which is based on the balanced
scorecard theory in context to business intelligence. This framework provides the accountants with the
opportunity to use business analytics to provide decision related information and performance
measurement. The study evaluates the use of prescriptive, predictive and descriptive in measuring
performance in an enterprise system environment. The paper contributes by examining the impact of
business analytics on managerial accounting and decision making. The research uses the balance
scored theory to incorporate the traditional form of accounting into the modern information systems.
The research shows the use of business analytics and information systems in cost accounting,
performance measurement and planning and decision making where descriptive, predictive and
prescriptive methods of analysis has been used. It provides opportunity to manage external and
internal data effectively to examine the impact of these factors on information system. The research

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has also determined the critical success factors in implementing these framework with the
organizational processes which shows that the framework has to be data driven, flexible and scalable.
The research has been able to display the evolution of the traditional methods of decision making to a
more strategic approach which focuses on the management, measurement and identification of the
key operational and financial drivers.
Common themes across four articles
These articles has aimed to highlight and evaluate the importance of accounting information
systems in the modern organizational context. The four article has measured the importance of
accounting information systems in different situations. The researches have showed that use of
accounting information system is highly important in global organizational context where companies
need to use these systems to make effective decisions and gain sustainable competitive advantage in
the market. The articles have been able to show that role of accounting has been evolving in the past
decade where it has been used as a strategic approach towards effective management of operational
and financial drivers. Moreover, these articles try to emphasize on the importance of accounting
information system in modern business by highlighting the way it affects the core processes.
Different themes across four articles
The major difference in themes among the different articles is the context and the frameworks
used for analysis. The researchers used different markets and sectors to analyse the importance of
accounting information system in decision making. The first article aims to evaluate all the small and
micro scale organizations in the fast food industry where the research used an empirical investigation
to collect data from alteast 30SMMEs. The research clearly showed that SMMEs are reluctant in
using Accounting information system to the shortage of capital. On the contrary, the second article is
focused on a five star hotel where no particular framework was developed but aimed to examine the
issue in Jodhpur hotels. The result were shocking as the company was still focused on using
traditional methods of accounting for making effective decisions. This research highlighted an
important context avoided by other studies which is the outsourcing of accounting functions to make
improvement to the overall strategic accounting function is one of the key features in Hotel industry.
This research conducted surveys to collect data from the managers and performed inferential
statistical analysis. In case of the third article, importance of accounting information system was
evaluated in Bosnia and Herzegovina where companies from all the sectors were evaluated to
understand the companies were using AIS or not. The final article is different from the other articles as
it has proposed a theoretical framework, Managerial Accounting Data Analytics (MADA) which uses
an inductive approach to further investigation on this model. The major difference that the article
focuses on the use of business analytics in managerial accounting which makes the topic more
specific. Moreover, the research does not provide any solution but only proposes theories for future
studies along with the critical success factors.
Managerial implication of the four articles
These articles have clearly showed that managers need to develop effective accounting
information systems specific to their organizations for making effective planning, controlling,
measuring and decision making. The accounting information systems has to be incorporated into the
business model of organizations to improve the overall efficiency of the business processes.
Moreover, it provides predictive and prescriptive abilities to the managers which will help in
developing sustainable competitive advantage in the market. Moreover, the organization should focus
on providing the employees with better training and development so that they can acquire new skills
to effectively use analytical models of decision making. The changes in the macro and micro
environment are rapid so in order to remain flexible organization have to use predictive modelling to
forecast future possibilities and develop strategies to address the possibilities. On the other hand,
managers should develop skills to understand the use of accounting information system as it not
provides better decision making capabilities, it also facilitates in performance measurements.
Study limitations and future research direction
The major limitation of the first three studies are the fact that they lack in depth analysis and
are more focused on performing empirical analysis. Moreover, the first three articles have failed to use
theoretical models to investigate the importance of accounting information system in decision making.
On the contrary, the fourth article has proposed a framework which has not been tested yet so further
conclusive research on the models is required. Therefore, in future it is essential to conduct further in

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depth analysis by using mixed method analysis where both qualitative and quantitative data analysis
can be used. The Managerial Accounting Data Analytics (MADA) model also needs to be evaluated
further using conclusive research design so that its implementation is understood in modern
organizations.

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References
Allah, T., August, P., Bhaza, S., Chigovanyika, T., Dyan, U., Muteweye, T., Ngcoza, M., Tshiwula, N.,
Qambela, V., Vooi, Y. and Bruwer, J.P., 2013. Accounting information systems in the fast food
industry: A valuable tool for small business survival.
Jawabreh, O.A. and Alrabei, A.M.A., 2012. The impact of accounting information system in planning,
controlling and decision-making processes in Jodhpur hotels. Asian Journal of Finance &
Accounting, 4(1), pp.173-188.
Buljubašić, E. and Ilgȕn, E., 2015. Impact of Accounting Information Systems on Decision Making
Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. European researcher. Series A, (7), pp.460-469.
Appelbaum, D., Kogan, A., Vasarhelyi, M. and Yan, Z., 2017. Impact of business analytics and
enterprise systems on managerial accounting. International Journal of Accounting Information
Systems, 25, pp.29-44.