The participants in this research were very consistent with their perception of the skills needed by management accountants in ERP environments. All of the interviewees started from the perspective that the management accountant has both appropriate and adequate accounting training. Some believed that a formal accounting qualification was very desirable as a way to signal that a management accountant possesses the requisite skills. Almost every participant identified the need for good communication and interpersonal skills. Analytical skills and the ability to focus on objectives and prioritise work (work management) were also deemed important.
The increased importance in understanding the business was also emphasized, as was the need to have ‘entrepreneurial salesman skills.’ That is, the management accountants need to be able to communicate with the management team and synthesize and explain the results (the impact of the financial data) in a way that can be easily understood. Management accountants need to take on a partnership role with the managers. This will sometimes result in the management accountants supporting major decisions by influencing managers onto the right area through a thoughtful and reasoned explanation of what the information means. Along with these skills, other non-traditional skills were identified. These included being an educator as the management accountants must be able to explain how the numbers were obtained and what they mean, and they might also be asked to explain how the system generates those numbers. Patience was also identified as needed since the ERP packages are very difficult to use when they are first implemented.
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