INTRODUCTION
In spite of the substantial investments made in information systems, there is still insufficient empirical evidence of the
business impact that those systems actually produce, and of the variables that may influence the nature and magnitude of such impact. This study represents an effort to fill this practical and theoretical gap in four significant ways.
First, the study focuses on the business impact of a particular type of information systems, Strategic Performance Measurement Systems (SPMS), which enable organizations to plan, measure and control their performance, so that decisions, resources and activities can be better aligned with business strategies to achieve desired results and create shareholder value. Second, it examines actual business impact in financial and operational terms, rather
than the proxies for information systems impact that have been commonly used in the literature, such as user satisfaction, volume of use, and others. Third, the model proposed in this study is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from the literatures in information systems, accounting and management to address the complex mix of technological aspects, information and control systems and organizational variables that are likely to be involved in determining the business impact of strategic performance measurement systems. Finally, the test of the model is based on substantial empirical data provided by a large-scale industry survey of 1,990 respondents.