Terence Machado Boina

AN ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS USED TO SUPPORTFINANCIAL AND COST MANAGEMENT

This paper presents the results of a research that aimed at analysing the management reporting systems (MRS) and the decision support systems (DSS) used to aid the financial and costing management in a corporate environment. Four cases studies were carried out in companies from different sectors, located in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan area. It was possible to conclude that the MRS and the DSS used by the studied companies do not satisfactorily meet the users information needs regarding financial and cost management; being cost management the less supported by information. The main limitations are lack of flexibility in the reports, in the case of MRS, and the non-integration with other information systems in use by the company. One can say that the managers should make investments in more effective information systems in order to improve the decisions related to financial and cost management, which are essential to increase the companys competitivity.