The ERP system fulfils the basic role that was previously performed by the Management Accountants, and has empowered them to shift their role from data collectors towards a greater emphasis upon data analyzing , reporting of the external environment in the form of benchmarking, etc. and acting as Business Accountants supporting decision-making. Whether individual Management Accountants have made this shift in their role has been very much a matter of personal choice. Some have preferred to continue as before, even to the extent of ignoring some of the facilities of the ERP system and using spreadsheets to produce bespoke reports similar to those they produced under the previous legacy system. In this ERP environment, it is recommended that beyond the normal accounting and technical skills, Management Accountants must possess good communication and interpersonal skills and have the ability to work with non-accountants. In addition, good numeric and analytical skills, good work management skills and an ability to focus are seen as important attributes to possess. One final comment was made by the interviewee. It concerned post-implementation and, in this case, the absence of any benefits-tracking system from the implementation. She felt that as it was a replacement project rather than a benefit-driven one, there was not the perceived need for a tracking system of this type – the benefits were clear without one. However, she felt that in any benefits-driven implementation, having a benefits-tracking system was essential: ‘management accountants [should]insist [upon having] and driving [the development] of… benefit-tracking processes…So, if they say this system is going to deliver [say] £20 million of benefits, we would expect that to be broken down [with] clearly defined accountabilities[relating to individual] input [to the project so] that you can… [then] put in sophisticated benefit tracking system.’
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