This paper discusses the relevance of accounting from the investor's perspective focusing on “value”. It first explains the key basic concepts of accounting - fair value accounting vs. historical cost - and thus frames the conflict between recording past transactions reliably vs. providing fair values based on future estimates. Based on the differences of market and book values of equity in combination with (at least in parts) inconsistent rules in accounting, challenges regarding systemic transparency on value are discussed. Accounting lost significant ground regarding the relevance of information in the context of decision-making for investors mostly because defining significant value sitting in intangibles as out of scope.