The making of the management accountant – Becoming the producer
of truthful knowledge
In this paper, we analyse the practices through which the management accountant is constructed
as a knowing subject and becomes a producer of truthful knowledge. We draw on
a case study of an automobile equipment manufacturer in which management accountants
play a central role. The centrality of their role is evidenced, among other aspects, by their
participation in online reverse auctions, wherein they commit themselves and their company
to long-term projects. This commitment is constitutive of their identity as knowing
subjects and organisational truth tellers. However, the ‘‘validity” of the truth they produce
can only be assessed over time. We argue that, in this firm, monthly performance review
meetings constitute ‘‘accounting trials of truth” during which peers and senior management
cross-examine the accounting truth presented. Preparations for these trials of truth
constitute a form of subjectivation whereby management accountants act on their ways
of being in the firm and become the producers of truthful knowledge.