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eld studies. Additionally, given the lack of conclusive findings in the literature about the impact of ERP this research will employ a survey of large corporations incorporating open-ended questions about changes in capital budgeting and other management accounting practices. However, it is proposed that this will be an exploratory study given that there is uncertainty as to whether there have been any significant changes to management accounting with greater use of ERP systems. 3.3.1 The sample This exploratory study of the impact of ERP on management accounting was tested with Australian companies of sufficient size to have acquired ERP systems in the past 10 years. The sample consisted of 105 companies among the ASX-listed companies with sales of more than $400 million according to DatAnalysis The companies represented classified industry groups including: automobiles and components; capital goods; chemicals; commercial services and supplies; construction materials; consumer durables and apparel; container and packaging; energy; food, beverage and tobacco; food and staples; hotels, restaurants and leisure; media; metals and mining; paper and forest products; retailing; software and services; telecommunication services; transportation; and utilities. Larger firms tend to implement ERP systems for two reasons: their size indicates they can afford the required monetary outlays and they require the systems to look after their extensive and routinized transactions. Capital budgeting was deemed important for the above industries, which tend to be capital intensive. The Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of the companies were identified through DatAnalysis in order to telephone them to verify the incumbent CFO, exact name and title, address, and telephone number. New Zealand and foreign headquartered companies were eliminated because of the expected difficulty in gaining responses. In addition, companies were dropped from the sample where the CFO could not be identified or verified. This process resulted in a reduction of the sample size from 105 to 90 companies ranging in size from $400 million to $34 billion in sales. 3.3.2 The Survey Instrument and its Administration As there has been a lack of conclusive findings in the literature, it was decided that open-ended questions about the changes that are occurring with capital budgeting and other management accounting practices would be a feature of the survey sent to participating companies. This approach recognizes Scapens and Jazayeri’s (2003, p. 226) concern that the changes occurring with management accounting may be caused by non-ERP factors. The survey asked various demographic questions about the role of the respondent within the organisation, the type of industry represented by the firm and the gender of the respondent. In terms of the questions specifically related to management accounting practices and capital budgeting, there were a range of yes/no questions as well as questions inviting respondents to describe practices and changes in practices over the past 10 years within organisations. A copy of the survey is provided in Appendix 1. The survey was sent to the 90 CFOs in May 2005, with follow up requests being made in June and August. Respondents were given a choice of responding either by mail or through a web response. Telephones contacts were made to non respondents together with a second and third mailing of the survey. There was a great willingness among