the financial view and the business view to give us hopefully a Chart of Accounts which, at the level of detail they have gone to, will allow us to do that.’ In answer to the question ‘What would the Management Accountants do differently/ the same knowing everything they know now after the ERP implementation?’, the response was, ‘They would certainly go about designing the structure of the Chart of Accounts the same way, but they would try and simplify the structure. There is duplication within the structure because of the way they did it by division, then by region and then by project. They would now start with the projects and built up into region and division. As it is, the project is almost a sub-set of everything else, rather than [the project] should be driving it. [This would] probably be much simpler.’ The ERP system provides the numbers and the basic reports. For presentation purposes, the numbers are automatically downloaded into Excel spreadsheets (using macros) to provide the level of presentation required. This allows the use of the graphics and other presentation facilities within Excel. Excel is used now only as a presentation tool and not as a reporting tool. Prior to the ERP system, spreadsheets were used for reporting. The implementation was assisted by a team of three full-time external consultants, who continued throughout and for 1-month’s reporting after implementation. The ERP implementation was seen as very successful for the following reasons: (a) There is a reduction in inventory levels. (b) The monthly accounts are now closing in 2 days (rather than 10 days prior to the ERP system). (c) Financial accuracy and financial efficiency has significantly improved. (d) Reports are being produced that the business understands and the business ‘actually work to and it is only one number.’ (e) ‘Procurement now use workflow to determine who has raised the requisition, when they raised it, what the value is, who has authorized it…’ (f) ‘The stock control people now understand what we have in stock and they understand we have something like 4500 sites where we have equipment throughout the UK.’ (There are about 250,000 items bar-coded.) The role of the Management Accountants As reported earlier, a Management Accountant was a full-time member of the project team, actively involved in the implementation of the ERP system. Currently, there are 13 Management Accountants in the company, which includes 4 assigned to regions and employed on projects and a central reporting team of 4 Management Accountants that undertake end-of-month reporting and reporting throughout the monthly periods
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