The Information Mosaic (Harvard Business School Series in Accounting & Control)

Informally gathered information that's raw and immediate has a profound effect on what managers do. Understanding how managers actually obtain and use the information they need can help organizations improve their accounting and information systems. The authors of this text talked to managers in production, marketing and other functional areas to discover what information they need and how to obtain it. Their findings indicate that managers develop and rely upon their own information systems, which do not involve elaborate technology, such as direct observation, relationships and frequent contacts both within and outside of their firms. Recognizing that the challenge to accounting and management information specialists is to incorporate within their systems more of the data that effective managers actually use, the authors make specific recommendations about how to convey relevant and timely information to managers.