The relationship between information technology and corporate financial reporting

In: Information, technology & people, Volume 10, Issue 1, p. 11-30

Abstract

Argues that previous evaluative studies of the impact of information technology (IT) on accounting have focused too much on accountants, and thus have largely neglected broader social and organizational issues. Adopting a contingency perspective, investigates the relationship between IT and corporate financial reporting through the analysis of responses to a postal questionnaire survey of 1,515 UK public companies. Finds that IT use is associated more with internal reporting change (IRC) than with external reporting change (ERC), implying that IT use may have enlarged the information asymmetry between internal and external users. The association between IT use and IRC is found to be stronger in smaller companies than in large ones; and the correlation between IT use and ERC is found to vary depending on the existence of a management compensation plan, and to be conditional on the level of gearing. Discusses the implications of these findings.