Accountants-electronic data processing and management science /operational research specialists relationships: an empirical investigation with special reference to British industry.

This research project was inspired by the researcher's perception of 'the discrepancy between earlier expectations and the present state of the art with regard to the scope, quality, and features of the collaborative efforts of accountants on the one hand, and Electronic Data Processing (EDP)- and Management Science/Operational Research (MS/OR) specialists on the other. Such collaborative efforts are the basis for building decision making and problem solving support systems for their managements. Many unsupported assertions have been made about accountants' actual use of Ms/OR models and approaches in their field of specialisation, and about the effects of computers on accountants and accounting, and this research project provided an opportunity for exploring and validating these assertions. Based on the findings of the study it is concluded that, among other things, accountants' interaction with their EDP and MS/OR counterparts is based on limited and insufficient mutual understanding. Accountants' use and application of model-building approaches and computer-based systems have been very narrowly restricted to the structured, deterministic, and functionally constrained types of activities. Amongst the central causes that-impede the desired level of greater mutual understanding are (1) the lack of necessary background orientation (of the three specialist groups EDP, HS/OR, and accounting) of each other's basic practices and principles and the wider implications of their respective systems, (2) the insufficient appreciation of the wider implications of the synergistic effects of their interdisciplinary contributions, and (3) the apparent incompatibilities amongst respective functional procedures, conventions, practices, and time horizons, Finally, directions for further research have been outlined.