The Neo Accountant

Essay by ahmederum August 2007

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There is mounting evidence that any form of organizational or management change, e.g. the deployment of digital technologies, affects the economics of operational and managerial processes and also activates wide-ranging social and organizational effects (Bhimani) A. Hopwood has correctly stated: “Accountants and other members of the management team searching for means of understanding and improving standard setting and budgeting; must therefore see the process in its entirety and respond to it as a complex human and technical problem rather than one standing in technical isolation.” The Contingency Theory can best explain how management should respond to proposed change. The theory is summed up in two words: It depends! Accountants and other members of the management team will have to respond to each situation by looking at it whole. According to Fiedler’s Contingency Theory of Situational Leadership, situations of proposed change that appear low in control must be managed in a directive and task-oriented manner.

On the other hand, situations that are high in control must simply be dealt with in a supportive fashion; in this case, managers can stay out of their subordinates’ way to a large extent (Boje).

All changes in accounting practices are sure to have extensive effects on the organization as a whole and the community of people it is involved with. Accounting practices with the aid of latest technology that make an organization more efficient may improve the state of an entire economy. Given that finance is the basis of organizational operation, accountants cannot isolate themselves and be looking for an improvement in accounting practices without consulting other branches of management as a team. Consultation, then, has got to be the first step in the introduction of accounting or managerial change. This essential step to change involves many departments of management, including planning. Forecasters and planners...