Value in the age of doubt: Accounting as a maieutic machine

This essay places current fascinations with the digital revolution into the historical and cultural contexts that have intertwined with the evolution of management accounting as a practice involved in the production of knowledge for decision-making. In outlining similarities and differences in the production of management accounting information from aural to digital cultures, it argues that while the effects of the digital revolution on management accounting and decision-making are still unclear, these effects surely (and hopefully) will not deliver the dream of perfect information and rational decision-making as one may be lead to believe by the growth of data-driven organizations and societies. Becoming aware of this impossibility is the first step for bringing wisdom back into decision-making processes and making management accounting gaining central stage again in the organizational arena.