Introduction

This study is the result of a research focusing on the accounting system of the “Teatro alla Scala” in Milan in the period spanning 1921 to 1946. La Scala in Milan is internationally recognized as a world stage for opera. The aim of this paper is to study the development of the form and content of the informational tools, and to understand the key factors causing the changes. The research is not based only on accounting documents providing financial information but also on other documents containing information about the theatre and its management. In an attempt to offer valid food for thought for current scientific debates we have focused on the role played by the theatre’s information system during a very specific historical period, and how it balanced out and/or enforced power relations at the time.