Accounting information system innovation in interfirm relationships

Over recent decades, contributions in management accounting have investigated the form of controls that are suited to situations of strategic alliances with suppliers, analyzing the role of accounting tools, such as accounting information system (AIS), in supplier selection. On this field, we focus on the role played by AIS innovation in selecting suppliers and how it is performed (produced, modified and accepted). In our interpretation, AIS is seen as a process of translation not just an accounting tool because it both represents and also explains reality. More specifically, we consider AIS as a boundary object which enables alliances between actors helping them to highlight their own interests and to solve controversies. In this sense, AIS is interpreted as an actor contributing to the creation of an accounting space where all the actors’ interests meet and are put into act in reality. Drawing on actor network theory (ANT) as a proper method theory, we attempt to study the dynamics between actors (human and non-human) directly involved and their interactions in the AIS innovation process. In doing so, we carry out a longitudinal case-study at a manufacturing firm located in the south of Italy, where we examine the role of AIS innovation in the supplier selection. We use the ANT lens to provide an understanding of the role played by AIS innovation as a boundary object. © 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.