A sociology of the translation of ERP systems to financial reporting

How it is possible for ERP systems to replace the independent auditor in the financial accounting triangle after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? How can the two actors be compared, given that one is a technology and the other a human being, one the product of a private firm and the other the informal representative of a government authority? This study seeks to answer these questions by introducing a new epistemological paradigm into the social study of ERP systems. This paradigm is derived from actor-network theory and incorporates the political aspect of technological production and its forms of representation – schemes and models. The analysis is based on a case study concerning a system of enterprise modelling and the Scandinavian organization that has developed it. The case study describes the conditions for the legitimization of accounting competences by a specific class of technologies in organizations (ERP systems) as a collective experiment involving consumers, engineers, and American government agencies.