Introduction

The research works published in this book are a selection of the best papers submitted at the XII Annual Conference of the Italian chapter of Association for Information Systems (ItAIS 2015), which was held in Rome in October, and entitled “Reshaping Organizations through Digital and Social Innovation”. The volume contains 21 research works that were accepted at the conference after a double-blind review and were mainly presented at the Accounting Information Systems track.

D. Mancini (*) • R. Lamboglia Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ; This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it N.G. Castellano

Macerata University, Macerata, Italy e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

K. Corsi

Sassari University, Sassari, Italy e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

K. Corsi et al. (eds.), Reshaping Accounting and Management Control Systems,

Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation 20,

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49538-5_1

The book presents a collection of papers concerning the relationship between digital innovations (such as cloud, data mining, XBRL, digital platforms) and accounting and management information systems. The aim of the book is to contribute to the current debate, in Italian research community of accounting information systems, on the impact of digital technologies on accounting and management information systems that support control activities.

Business information system is usually defined as a mix of interrelated elements such as [1, 2]:

- Data, regarding corporate and environmental state, which are collected, organised and structured in databases.
- Methodologies, procedures and models to assure the effectiveness and efficiency of data processing and the reliability of information flows.
- Information technology infrastructures and tools and human resources as key elements to manage corporate information processes.
- Information, obtained from data processing, which aims to meet internal and external needs through consistent reporting systems.

With regard to the business information systems, the contributions in this book focus their attention on the accounting and management information systems which are dedicated to support manager’s decision-making using accounting data as primary information sources. Some papers consider how new technologies could reshape the accounting and management information systems, enhancing their information potentialities and their ability to support decision-making processes, while other research studies show how managerial information needs affect and reshape the adoption of information technologies asking for more digitalisation.

Consistently with the key elements of business information systems, in order to highlight the impacts of digital innovations, the book is articulated in the following sections:

- Data management, in terms of data collection, data processing and sharing of a large amount of data.
- Information systems architecture, which refers to the structure of the information system, the integration and consistency of its components.
- Internal reporting, regarding the way in which financial and non-financial information is reported and shared, and how it generates knowledge to support management decision-making processes.
- External reporting, concerning the way in which financial and non-financial information is communicated and reported towards external stakeholders.