Survey #550: ERP and data mining in accounting

To what extent does your firm also use each of the following systems?

	Never	A few times a year	Once a month	Weekly	Daily
5. SCM (supply chain management)
6. CRM (customer relationship management)
7. Business intelligence tools
8. Digital dashboards
9. Spreadsheets

Does your firm use any of the following systems in its accounting area?

	Yes	No
10. Enterprise resource planning system (ERP) system (e.g. SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, Baan, Microsoft Dynamics GP, NetSuite)
11. Data mining (eg., Oracle Data Mining, IBM Intelligent Miner, SAS Analytics)

If you answered “No” to questions 10 & 11, please go to question 122.

Which one of the following ERP software products does your firm use?

	Yes	No
12. SAP
13. Microsoft Dynamics GP
14. Baan
15. NetSuite
16. PeopleSoft
17. Oracle
18. Epicor
19. Sage

20. Which other ERP software products does your firm use?

Which one of the following data mining software products does your firm use?

	Yes	No
21. Oracle Data Mining
22. SPSS Clementine
23. Fujitsu GhostMiner
24. SAS Enterprise Miner
25. Angoss KnowledgeStudio
26. IBM Intelligent Miner
27. DBMiner 2.0
28. DataLab
29. SAS Analytics
30. BayesiaLab

31. Which other data mining software products does your firm use?

32. Which one of the following statements best describes the level of implementation of your ERP system?

No ERP system
Implemented a few ERP modules, but they are not fully functional
Implemented numerous ERP modules, some of them are fully functional
Implemented many ERP modules, most of them are fully functional
Fully integrated ERP system

Which one of the following best describes the deployment of ERP systems in your firm?

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
33. Has been implemented across all of the business units
34. Has only been implemented at the office headquarters
35. Has been implemented by some business units but not in the entire organization

Which one of the following best describes the deployment of data mining systems in your firm?

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
36. Has been implemented across all of the business units
37. Has only been implemented at the office headquarters
38. Has been implemented by some business units but not in the entire organization

39. How many years have passed since ERP systems were first implemented?

more than 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

40. How many years have passed since data mining systems were first implemented?

more than 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

To what extent are ERP systems used with the following techniques?

	Never	A few times a year	Once a month	Weekly	Daily
41. Activity-based costing
42. Budgeting
43. Capital budgeting
44. Budgetary control
45. Cost control
46. Profit analysis
47. Sales analysis
48. Variance analysis

To what extent are data mining systems used with the following techniques?

	Never	A few times a year	Once a month	Weekly	Daily
49. Activity-based costing
50. Budgeting
51. Capital budgeting
52. Budgetary control
53. Cost control
54. Profit analysis
55. Sales analysis
56. Variance analysis

The introduction of ERP systems have driven changes in accounting techniques such as:

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
57. Activity-based costing
58. Budgeting
59. Capital budgeting
60. Budgetary control
61. Cost control
62. Profit analysis
63. Sales analysis
64. Variance analysis

The introduction of data mining systems have driven changes in accounting techniques such as:

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
65. Activity-based costing
66. Budgeting
67. Capital budgeting
68. Budgetary control
69. Cost control
70. Profit analysis
71. Sales analysis
72. Variance analysis

Since the introduction of ERP systems, accountants:

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
73. Are less involved in data entry activities
74. Are more involved in the design and improvement of business processes
75. Are more involved in the selection of software vendors
76. Need to be more IT savvy
77. Use non-financial performance measures more intensively
78. Rely more on non-financial performance measures to manage the business

Since the introduction of data mining systems, accountants:

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
79. Are less involved in data entry activities
80. Are more involved in the design and improvement of business processes
81. Are more involved in the selection of software vendors
82. Need to be more IT savvy
83. Use non-financial performance measures more intensively
84. Rely more on non-financial performance measures to manage the business

What data mining techniques does your accounting area use?

	Yes	No
85. Decision trees
86. Neutral networks
87. Regression modelling
88. Genetic algorithms
89. Clustering
90. Bayesian belief networks
91. Discriminant analysis
92. Fuzzy logic

93. What other data mining techniques does your accounting area use?

Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements regarding the implementation of the ERP applications:

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
94. The accounting department initiated the implementation of the ERP system in accounting
95. The implementation of the ERP system in accounting was a joint effort between the accounting and the information technology departments
96. All accountants received training in ERP
97. The software vendor of the ERP system provided the training

Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements regarding the implementation of the data mining applications

	Totally disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Totally agree
98. The accounting department initiated the implementation of the data mining system in accounting
99. The implementation of the data mining system in accounting was a joint effort between the accounting and the information technology departments
100. All accountants received training in data mining
101. The software vendor of the data mining system provided the training

To what extent have the use of the ERP systems contributed to

	Not at all	Slight Extent	Moderate extent	Great extent	Very great extent
102. Be more effective in your job (do the job when expected and without mistakes)
103. Be more efficient in your job (less time to do the same task)
104. Better decisions
105. Reduce inventory costs
106. Reduce production costs
107. Improve customer service
108. Solve accounting problems faster
109. Make more accurate forecasts
110. Discover new market opportunities
111. Have a better understanding of cost behaviour

To what extent have the use of the data mining systems contributed to

	Not at all	Slight Extent	Moderate extent	Great extent	Very great extent
112. Be more effective in your job (do the job when expected and without mistakes)
113. Be more efficient in your job (less time to do the same task)
114. Better decisions
115. Reduce inventory costs
116. Reduce production costs
117. Improve customer service
118. Solve accounting problems faster
119. Make more accurate forecasts
120. Discover new market opportunities
121. Have a better understanding of cost’s behaviour

To what extent were the following significant obstacles when introducing (or for not introducing) ERP systems in your firm?

	Not at all	Slight Extent	Moderate extent	Great extent	Very great extent
122. Faced with more pressing business problems
123. Not viewed as cost effective
124. Lack of familiarity
125. Lack of top-management support
126. Not viewed as relevant for our kind of business
127. Lack of funding
128. Insufficient training
129. Software difficult to use
130. Analyses too complex to learn and use

To what extent were the following significant obstacles when introducing (or for not introducing) data mining systems in your firm?