Commentators addressing specific features of the digital economy have tended to be partial in their use of the term. For instance, in his popularization of the term, Tapscott (1996) focuses on the role of information technology in organizations and proprietary commercial networks to highlight the promise of the internet in fostering electronic commerce. A more developed characterization is provided by Margherio et al. (1998) in The Emerging Digital Economy report published by the US Department of Commerce. In this and in an updated report by Henry (1999), the emphasis is on systems and services which utilize the internet. Brynjolfsson and Kahin (2002: 2) see the digital economy as 'the largely unrealised transformation of all sectors of the economy by the computer-enabled digitization of information'. This view accords with Kling and Lamb's (2002 : 297) assertion that 'we should not conceptualise a digital economy in ways that make the Internet central by definition'. As such, they see the digital economy as 'including goods or services whose development, sale, or provision is critically dependent upon digital technologies'. Other writings use the term digital economy to connote exchange between physical structures and conceptual planes of reference via digital coding (OECD 1998 ; Schmid 2001).

In the context of addressing management accounting issues, the view that is taken of the digital economy needs to be specific enough as to enable concerns germane to the discipline to be addressed whilst also remaining sufficiently general as not to preclude possibilities which remain nascent still. For the purposes of this and chapters that follow, it is proposed that the digital economy be regarded as signifying digital interrelationships and dependencies between emerging communication and information technologies, data transfers along predefined channels and emerging platforms, and related contingencies within and across institutional and organizational entities. Such a conceptualization permits social, political, and economic preconditions, effects, and consequences to be explored. It also posits sufficient ground for taking account of contemporary management accounting concerns without delimiting boundaries of possible change. With this view of the digital economy, it is now possible to turn to some substantive issues of concern in the field of management accounting.

History may or may not repeat itself, but the basis for change is often repetitive. Within management accounting writings, exhortations for change have been prevalent for some time. Two decades ago, Kaplan (1983) called for a 'new' management accounting predicated on an understanding of business processes as a departure from the mere reporting of enterprise activities based on often erroneous assumptions about their nature. The debate evolved into exhortations for accountants to enhance their understanding of the processes

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