An-An Chiu

The ERP system impact on the role of accountants

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system on the role of accountants, to provide job qualifications for their reference.Design/methodology/approach – This research adopts the case study method, using on‐the‐spot interviews and a questionnaire to find out the effects of an ERP system on the role of accountants.Findings – The role of accountants is mainly to be transaction data handlers and financial report providers. Clearly, accountants must have certain degree of knowledge in the realm of traditional finance accounting. In addition, accounting supervisors think implementing an ERP system changes the role of accountants.Research limitations/implications – The data collected by the authors are mainly from the Shanghai Financial Center and regional businesses in Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. The authors are only able to study the impact of ERP systems on the role of accountants in the short‐term rather than in the long‐term.Originality/valu...

How business process reengineering affects information technology investment and employee performance under different performance measurement

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is an approach for business process transformation and unconstrained reshaping of all business processes. This study examines the impact of BPR on information technology (IT) investment and employee performance. In this study, it is considered to be likely that employee performance will be improved by performance measurement, and thus, we intend to set up a performance measurement process which is similar to the employee’s goal setting. To this end, this study examines the relationship existed between performance measurement and performance. The obtained results show a positive relation existing between IT and BPR implementation, and employee performance and BPR implementation. Moreover, the empirical result supports that performance measurement associated with cost reduction and lead time shortening in the internal processes and quality improvement in the external processes can improve the performance.

The application of the theory of constraints and activity-based costing to business excellence: the case of automotive electronics manufacture firms

The manufacture of high-quality cars at comparatively low-cost has gradually become the mainstream. Our study designs a set of integrated time-driven-activity-based costing (TDABC) of performance-oriented systems using the bottleneck-breaking concept of theory of constraints (TOC). We use it to provide timely and relevant information on operation resources and cost management, which is an urgent issue. Through applications of TOC to TDABC, we further integrate cost concepts into the information system of the enterprise to achieve the following objects: First, the company can concentrate its limited resources on the main problem of bottleneck operations to effectively solve the inconsistency between individual departments and overall objects of the company. Second, in business process management, the company leads all operation processes to follow three major performance indicators. Third, the production-planning units are assisted in applying the specifications and definition of product to the manufacturing cost analysis of new product development. Fourth, in the delivery time, the production and management units are assisted in giving priority to the bottleneck operations when facing rush orders. Finally, in process improvement, improving bottleneck operations fast is the key for overall profits of the corporation.

The relationship between corporate innovation and performance

The purpose of this research is to examine the integrated relationship among R&D capacity, R&D quality, and corporate performance. The information technology (IT) industry is a knowledge-based industry. Its character differs from other industries. Sample selection of this research is from IT companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. We use the Structure Equation Model (SEM) to test the hypothesis. The results indicate that R&D capacity is positively associated with R&D quality. It means that the size of R&D capacity will influence the output of R&D quality. R&D quality is positively associated with firm performance. It means the power of R&D quality (patent citation impact) influences the accounting and market performance of the company.