Impact of Data Warehousing and OLAP Models on Management Accounting - Thesis Example

The use of OLAP and BI tools enable the management accountants to acquire accurate information about all departments. With these tools, a management accountant can draw ideas from the previous happenings of the organization even without much knowledge about the external factors that would lead to collapse of the organization. Owing to these facts, this research work has conducted an in-depth analysis of the impact of OLAP and data warehousing on management accounting. This research work has used the quantitative method of data collection to get opinion from 25 participants from various organizations.

The questionnaire has been divided into six sections. The research model has been based on these questions and selected control variables. Statistical analyses in SPSS have been performed on the quantitative data collected to identify the influence of the independent and control variables on the main dependent variable. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis have been conducted to study the relation between the variables. Based on the analyses it has been found that the factors like familiarity of the organization about OLAP, expertise level and compatibility of accounts department staff, the OLAP cube structure, availability of skilled personnel and the documentation of BRS have major influence on the choice and implementation of OLAP.

In addition, the implementation of OLAP is found to have major impact on management accounting procedures leading to improved decision making business strategies.. o 14 2 Identification of research problem 15 3 Main research question and Hypotheses 17 4 Aim and Objectives of the Research 18 5 Methodology of research 18 6 Structure of the research 20 Chapter 2 – Literature Review 21-36 2.1. The Traditional Accountant 21 2.2. Challenges faced by The Traditional Accountant 22 2.3. Transition of role 23 2.4. The Data Marts 24 2.5. Introduction to OLAP 25 2.6. OLAP models 26 2.6.1.

Data analysis in OLAP 26 2.6.2. OLAP components 26 2.7. The role of OLAP 30 2.8. Mapping the BI 30 2.9. Database Design 32 2.10. Warehouse Management 33 2.11. Challenges and implications of BI tools 35 2.12. Chapter summary 36 Chapter 3 - Theory and Hypotheses 37-51 3.1. Foundation of the study 37 3.2. Familiarity of Organizations 37 3.3. Planning of organizations for OLAP 41 3.4. Changes in other departments and OLAP 43 3.5. Compatibility of management accountants with OLAP 45 3.6. Contribution of OLAP to business strategy 47 3.7. Contribution of OLAP to accounting 50 3.8. Chapter summary 51 Chapter 4 – Research Framework 52-87 4.1. Research methods 52 4.1.1.

Survey Research methods 54 4.1.2. Qualitative survey method 54 4.1.3. Quantitative survey method 56 4.2. Sample selection 58 4.3. Data Collection 59 4.4. The Research Model 64 4.4.1. Identification of variables 65 4.4.2. Dependent variable 65 4.4.3. Independent variables 65 4.4.4. Control variables 68 4.5. Research model with variables 70 4.6. Diagnostic tests and issues 72 4.6.1. Descriptive Statistics 73 4.6.2. Inferential Statistics 74 4.7. Overview of SPSS 76 4.7.1. Algorithms supported in SPSS 78 4.7.2.

SPSS modeling 78 4.8. Statistical analyses in SPSS 79 4.8.1. Data preparation for SPSS analysis 79 4.8.2. Bivariate and Multivariate Analyses 80 4.8.3. Correlation in SPSS 83 4.8.4. Regression