Accounting professionals perceptions concerning the influence of information technology in decision-making process

Accounting role today as a primary provider of information to organizations becomes more and more prominent; its agent executor, the accountant, makes extensive use of information technology both in generating information and in decision-making. The aim of this study consists of mapping out accounting professionals’ perceptions regarding the influence of information technology on the individual decision-making process. An online questionnaire was developed. It replicated the Decision-making process instrument along with questions to characterize the respondents, as well as the application they had been using in their professional activity and in their organization. 362 (three hundred sixty-two) answers were obtained back. Factor Analysis was used to have them validated, and Cronbach's Alpha coefficient to check their reliability of scale. Such a process made the main findings described here possible. Such findings show that the benefits of information technology are higher at the beginning, in Intelligence phase; smaller and equivalent to each other, in Design, Selection and Implementation phases. Accounting professional’s role in the three levels of the decision-making process (operational, tactical and strategic) has also been examined by applying Cluster Analysis, which resulted in the conception of five groups of respondents: The Trainees, Operational Managers, Department Heads, Vice-directors and General-directors.     Key words: Information technology, accounting, decision-making process.