Accounting information for operations management decisions

v+180hlm.;24c

ERP-systemen en de rol van de controller

De laatste jaren is een enorme groei te bespeuren in de implementatie van gestandaardiseerde softwaresystemen gericht op geïntegreerde planning en beheersing van bedrijfsprocessen. Deze softwaresystemen worden ook wel Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systemen genoemd. Leveranciers van dit soort systemen zijn de in Nederland bekende SAP, Baan en Oracle en de misschien wat minder bekende JD Edwards en PeopleSoft. In deze bijdrage wordt de invloed van dit soort systemen op de functie en taakinhoud van de controller besproken. De auteur staat in het bijzonder stil bij de vraag of ERP-systemen in staat zijn financiële informatie te leveren voor het ondersteunen van beslissingen in het logistieke werkveld

Uitgavenreductie: economisch voordeel van contractenmanagement

Veel bedrijven doorlopen momenteel een proces van uitgavenreductie. In dit artikel wordt beschreven hoe dat kan worden gerealiseerd door een continue aandacht voor het plannen en beheersen van contracten. Dit proces wordt aangeduid met contractenmanagement

An object-oriented model for ex ante accounting information

Present accounting data models such as the Research-Event-Agent (REA) model merely focus on the modeling of static accounting phenomena. In this paper, it is argued that these models are not able to provide relevant ex ante accounting data for operations management decisions. These decisions require dynamic descriptions of the consequences of alternative future courses of actions and the resulting events. Therefore, a new object-oriented model is presented that enables the use of ex ante accounting data for this purpose. In comparison to the REA model, the object-oriented model presented in this paper includes new static aspects as "recipes", "potential contracts" and "reservations", together with behavioral aspects expressed as theoretical scripts for the retrieval of relevant accounting data

Accounting information for operations management decisions

v+180hlm.;24c

A generic accounting model to support operations management decisions

Information systems are generally unable to generate information about the financial consequences of operations management decisions. This is because the procedures for determining the relevant accounting information for decision support are not formalised in ways that can be implemented in information systems. This paper describes a formalised procedure, which is based on the following theoretical propositions: (i) cost behaviour is described on the basis of a company's contracts for purchasing and selling resources, and (ii) hierarchical relationships between decisions are recognised, because some decisions have to be made earlier than others. Earlier decisions determine the feasible alternatives for later decisions (e.g. through constraints in available production capacity or components), and the plans that supported the earlier decisions serve as instructions for later decisions. The procedure can be implemented in information systems to provide accounting information in case later decisions deviate from these instruc tions (within the limits of the real-world constraints) because new information becomes available

Defining an information structure to analyse resource spending changes of operations management decisions

In this paper, we discuss the support of Operations Management decisions with Management Accounting information. We describe two such decisions: setting the MPS and Order Acceptance. We discuss how these decisions can be supported by financial information. We present a model for calculating the financial impact ofa MPS. If different MPS scenarios are feasible, the impact of each can be calculated as a basis for comparison and decision-making. However, it is not straightforward to calculate the financial impact of a MPS. There are problems, e.g. the absence of sales prices and material values, because of the criteria used for selecting products and components for the MPS. These problems are discussed and a model to resolve these problems is demonstrated. The model is theoretically interesting because it makes clear some of the differences between Operations Management concepts for planning and decision-making, and such concepts in Management Account ing. We then discuss Order Acceptance in direct relation with Master Production Scheduling. In this way, the economic trade-offs of the Order Acceptance decision are very different from the traditional trade-offs in Order Acceptance decisions when discussed in isolation from other planning decisions. Finally, since setting the MPS and Order Acceptance are often supported by information systems, we present elements of a data structure for our financial requirements that can be used additionally to data structures present in current information systems