Complementarity and performance effects of information technology and management accounting/controls in China

This paper explores the extent to which information and communication technology (ICT) and management accounting and controls (MAC) complement each other in firms’ operations, and the resulting effects on firm performance. Data from 219 listed Chinese firms support the expectation that ICT and MAC are complements. Although ICT and MAC do not have significant moderating effects on firm performance, they have significant and positive direct performance effects while also enabling each other to have a significant and positive indirect performance effect. The results suggest that deployment of both ICT and MAC would be more effective by explicitly considering the synergies between them. In particular, decisions on ICT and MAC adoption would be misinformed by neglecting their indirect performance effects. Finally, because the firm performance effect of ICT (MAC) does not depend on the level of MAC (ICT) adoption, further research should identify ways by which ICT and MAC are integrated