The accountant's contribution to operational research

The paper discusses the provision of data by accountants for use in operational research (O.R.) models. It explores the reasons why accountants are criticized by O.R. workers for failing to provide relevant incremental cost and opportunity cost data in a desired form. The changes that need to be made to many accounting systems to meet the O.R. workers requirements are examined. It is suggested that in some situations the onus is upon the O.R. worker to put forward a convincing case for generating additional information. A communications gap between accountants and O.R. workers is recognized, and an educational problem identified.