A Narrative Approach to Studying Early Career Impressions of External Auditors

7/29/2019 A Narrative Approach to Studying Early Career Impressions of External Auditors

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A narrative approach to studying early career impressions of external auditors*

Ivo De LooNyenrode Business University

School of Accountancy and ControllingStraatweg 25

3621 BG BreukelenThe Netherlands

Phone: +31 346 291 024Fax: +31 346 291 250

E-mail:[email protected]

Stuart CooperAston Business School

Accounting & Finance GroupBirmingham, United Kingdom

Melina ManochinAston Business School

Accounting & Finance GroupBirmingham, United Kingdom

* The comments received from Florian Gebreiter and Sally Widener on an earlier version of this paper are verymuch appreciated. The usual disclaimer applies.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Abstract

In this paper, we put the view that identities can be expressed in and changed through texts. Afterhaving explained why narrative analysis may be an interesting approach to study such texts, welook at the socialization processes of two early career external auditors that have been articulatedin an interview context. Socialization processes will often involve tensions and struggles when

new recruits of audit firms feel they have to give up a sense of self-control. These tensions andstruggles may result in changes in ones individual and/or collective identities. We indicate thatalthough many of the socialization processes that new recruits undergo seem to have remainedunchanged over the years, there may be subtle changes occurring in these processes, as suggestedby our narratives.


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Introduction

The real youis so different from the image youre portraying and if its inside youweve got to get it and haul it out, Jane, and, you know, put it on the outside (Benwelland Stokoe 2006, p. 2, emphasis in original).

The above quote, taken from a television show discussing the way people dress, serves toillustrate that people tend to categorize themselves, as well as others, almost all the time, eitherindividually or collectively (Jenkins 2008, Thoits and Virshup 1997). Examples includecategorizing someone as a fancy dresser, Mary Pierce, member of a soccer team, professor,spouse, Spanish citizen, or co-editor of a journal. Collective classifications include TV actors,barbers, and accounting professionals. Schein (1965) notes that categorizations such as thesehelp people to stabilize, structure and interpret their surroundings, create possibilities to exertpower, fulfill a sense of belonging, and enable the attainment of mutual goals. However, Burke(2007) notes that they can also lead to stressful situations when categorizations collide whenthey are not agreed upon for one reason or another or are somehow deemed inappropriate.

One way to categorize individuals or a larger collective or group is by their identity. One canhave a perception of ones own identity or identities. They can, however, also be determined byothers. Besides, one can hold a view of someone elses identity or identities, be it as an

individual or group member. In this paper, we assume that people have multiple identities(McCall and Simmons 1969) that partly overlap (Ashmore, Deaux and McLaughlin-Volpe 2004,Benwell and Stokoe 2006). Identities may either be individual or collective (Thoits and Virshup1997). We define identity as a highly dynamic process of being or becoming (Jenkins 2008)that is shaped together with others. This highlights the social dimension of identities (Benwelland Stokoe 2006, Jenkins 2008). We purport that every identity evolves around the followingquestions:

Who am I? (Benwell and Stokoe 2006, Jenkins 2008, Tajfel 1981);

Who am I not? (Bragd et al. 2008, Musson and Duberley 2007, Elliott 2001);in case of individual identities, and:

Who are we? (Tajfel 1981); Who are we not? (Bragd et al. 2008, Jenkins 2008, Musson and Duberley 2007);

in case of collective identities. The questions who am I not? and who are we not? are

expressions of non-identity (Carroll and Levy 2008) or alterity (Bragd et al. 2008), which donot necessarily involve negative associations (Beech 2008). It is assumed that identities arecreated and changed by positioning oneself individually and/or as a group member vis--vis

other individuals and/or groups (Jenkins 2008). This is likely to include both aspects of identityand alterity.

According to Benwell and Stokoe (2006), recently, under the influence of postmodernism,interest in the identity literature seems to have shifted from studying the identity of groups ofpeople that can be distinguished beforehand, based on some categorization criterion (likeairplane pilots), to literally studying individuals and their personal perceptions and experiences

(also see Jenkins 2008). In conjunction with this, it has been suggested that identities can be


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expressed and shaped in texts (Antaki et al. 1996, Beech 2008, Bragd et al. 2008, Jenkins 2008).Texts can be a source of confirmation, legitimization, and change in a variety of contexts(Alvesson and Skldberg 2000, Mertkan-znl 2007). These sources are important aspectsinforming identities (Schein 1965).

A lot of scientific research has been conducted on identity matters, with researchers stemmingfrom, among others, psychology (Ashmore, Deaux and McLaughlin-Volpe 2004, Schein 1965),sociology (Howard 2000, Tajfel 1981) and organization theory (Alvesson and Willmott 2002,Sveningsson and Alvesson 2003, Tannenbaum 1968). We want to engage in this debate as well,by focusing on the identities of external auditors at the start of their career, when they are eitheron the brink of entering the profession or have recently entered it (Hall 1976). There is very littleempirically founded material on the identities of auditors available that builds from theindividual level (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998, 2001 and Jeacle 2008 appear to beamong the few examples available). Warren and Parker (2009) assert that:

Little is currently known about the way in which accountants as individualprofessionals, develop and sustain their own personal and professional identities, giventhe current array of role and image definitions promulgated in the professional andgeneral press (p. 206).

This paper seeks to contribute to this call. We will present several ways in which (in this case)external auditors form, shape and struggle (with) their identities. We feel that this research isparticularly timely and relevant given the apparent change in the recruitment literature of largeaccounting firms and professional bodies that has recently been witnessed, in which thepreviously dull and strict accountant stereotype has been exchanged for a more trendy, fun-loving accountant (Jeacle 2008). We will not analyze these changes in detail, but rather we

consider them to be an important element of the particular context in which (future) auditorshave to operate. A specific form of narrative analysis will be applied to assess auditorsidentities, following the view that identities can be expressed in texts (Alvesson and Willmott2002). Narrative analysis can be used to study personal experience and meaning inmanagement and organizational settings (Myers 2009, p. 218). Although it is often applied todescribe the life history of individuals, narrative analysis can also be helpful to analyzesignificant events that take place in the working life of individuals (Myers ibid.), which is theview adopted here. When doing narrative work, Riessman (1993) advises to use a specificdefinition of a narrative, to be clear and open-minded about ones interpretations, to be openabout ones doubts, and to give room to other interpretations, among others by letting otherresearchers, if they want to, have access to ones (source) materials. This is something we would

like to follow up on here as well, as this may result in a credible and trustworthy researchaccount (Riessman ibid.).

Our research has important theoretical and practical implications. Firstly, an apparent researchgap is addressed as individual expressions of identities by accountants/auditors are not oftenstudied (Warren and Parker 2009). Secondly, our research may give an impression how earlycareer accountants cope with the repositioning efforts of the profession exhibited by professionalbodies and accounting firms (Jeacle 2008).

This paper will proceed as follows. After an overview of the existing literature on developmentsin the auditing profession, particularly in relation to individual and collective identities, we will


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discuss the narrative analysis approach we adopted. This will then be related to two narrativesfrom former students of a UK-based university who have recently become external auditors(although at the time of the interview, one still had to enter the profession). The insights abouttheir identities gathered from the narratives will then be compared to previous literature, leadingto various possibilities for further research and a note of reflection on narrative work.

Previous literature

According to self-categorisation theory, identities are constructed by a process of similarityseeking and comparison of oneself with others, and the consequent categorisation of oneself(Turner et al. 1987). Traditionally, collective identities have been defined in terms of essentialcharacteristics shared by members of a group. However, the narrative approach to identities thatwe adopt here denies there is any essential self, and suggests it is constructed and remade ininteraction with others (Phillips and Hardy 1997, Hardy and Phillips 1999), and that it containscontradictory voices (Czarniawska-Joerges 1996). Not everyone will feel the same about aperson or a group of persons, and how they may be viewed. Besides, these views can changeover time. Think for example about (former) presidents, a soccer team, or accountants from aBig-4 company (Carnegie and Napier 2010).

Consequently, collective identities are inherently fluid and flexible rather than fixed. The formand meaning of such identities is sensitive to changing features of the comparative and normativecontext in which they are framed and expressed (Haslam and Turner 1992). This fluidity makesit easier for collective identities to be manufactured and managed1. Group leaders are said to bethe entrepreneurs of a specific collective identity, whose influence derives from their capacityto define themselves as a representative of a social category (Reicher, Haslam and Hopkins2005). Again, accountants from a Big-4 company may be a case in point (Carnegie and Napier2010).

Collective identities have been investigated and theorized as a relational process. The nature of agroups role-relationship, such as that between a universitys senior management and its deans, isfundamentally interpersonal. It may largely be understood with reference to a network ofinterdependent roles. Relational identities therefore knit a network of roles and role incumbentstogether into a social system (Sluss and Ashforth 2007). A role-based identity is consequentlylinked with the goal, values, beliefs, norms, interaction styles, and time horizons typicallyassociated with the role, independent of who (what kind of person or collective) may be enactingthe role.

One may presume that being an external accountant or auditor may comprise such a role(Birkett 1984). Other differentiations are possible as well, for example in terms of anaccountants experience with his or her current employer (Gendron and Spira 2009), or whether

someone is a junior or early career, or more senior auditor (Anderson-Gough, Grey andRobson 1998). Studies examining (changes in) the identities of experienced, external auditors,either individually or as a group, are extremely limited, both in- and outside of the accounting

1 See, for instance, the discussion of Alvesson and Willmott (2002) below.


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literature (Warren and Parker 2009). The same holds for studies of the socialization process2 ofearly career accountants in accounting firms (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998). Jeacle(2008) focuses on the latter, and claims that accounting firms and professional institutes areengaged in a recruitment discourse, trying to attract individuals to the profession by portrayingthe image of a trendy and fun-loving accountant instead of the old-fashioned bookkeeper3, who

is deemed to be dull and dreary.In addition, it has been mentioned that the bookkeeping image of auditors received serious blowsin recent years because of various bookkeeping scandals and the commercialization of theaccounting profession (Hanlon 1994, Sikka 2009). Consequently, auditing firms sponsor an arrayof activities to entertain new recruits to substantiate a money, career and friends galore!

(Jeacle 2008, p. 1305). Thus, the exaggerated negative stereotype of the bookkeeper tends to beaccompanied by another, positive, but also exaggerated stereotype of the trendy accountant. Inline with this, Grey (1998) already suggested that being a professional accountant might be moreabout behaving in a certain way than having certain qualifications. Jeacle (2008) concludes: essentially, accounting firms do not want to recruit the beancounter [anymore] (p. 1299). Such

developments could very well affect what and how accountants think about their identities.

Alvesson and Willmott (2002) propose a theoretical framework to explain how managementcontrol within organizations may be accomplished through the self-positioning of employees inmanagerial discourses about work and organization. They introduce the notions of identityregulation and identity work to highlight this. Identity regulation is what the management of

an organization tries to do to steer and safeguard their view on employee identity, which is a typeof collective identity. This might entail the distribution of company leaflets to stress the trendyand fun-loving accountant and the organization of off-work activities that are in line with this.Another example would be the issue of company-wide codes of conducts in which this view isincorporated. Thereby, it is attempted to create, amend and mould a collective identity. However,employees do not passively embrace such discourses, but try to accommodate their ownexperiences, influences and inspirations with these to a smaller or larger extent. This may lead totensions (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil 2010), contradictions and conflicts within orbetween individuals (Laclau 1990) and, perhaps, to a change in individual identities (or,reversibly but less likely, to a change in collective identities) (Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil 2010).According to Alvesson and Willmott (2002), employees are essentially identity workers who areeither invited or forced to incorporate managerial discourses into narratives of self-identity.This creates a natural link with the narrative approach used in this paper, which will besubstantiated further below.

In studies on auditing firm practices, it has been found that the significance placed on the group(of new recruits) pressures individuals. They cannot let other group members down (for example,when examinations take place). At the same time, their managers stimulate competitiveness

2This refers to the whole gamut of ways in which the meaning and conduct of professional membership istransmitted (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998, p. 1). Stated differently, it is about the making ofaccounting professionals.3 Interestingly, a similar development can be seen in job adverts for management accountants and accountingsoftware in professional magazines (Baldvinsdottir et al. 2009). It is found that the general view on managementaccountants over the last 30 years has changed from responsible and rational to more hedonistic and pleasureseeking.


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among individuals. They have to be the best, the group leader (Anderson-Gough, Grey andRobson 1998; also see Reicher, Haslam and Hopkins 2005). This is an example of identityregulation. Consequently, new recruits have to adapt themselves to the culture of their audit firmand identify what it means to be a professional. Among others, feelings of group commitmentand organizational commitment will play a part in this, as well as someones individual

identities. This is part of identity work.It is, consequentially, interesting to analyze how (in this case) relatively new external auditorsperceive and deal with a variety of changes they may experience in their professional and privatelife (and the balance between the two) when entering the profession. Since accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the profession seem to have very similar personalitypreferences (Andon, Chong and Roebuck 2010), such developments may yield substantial effectson how auditing practices are exercised and how the profession is viewed in the future, withpossibly far-reaching theoretical and practical implications. This paper tries to signal some ofthese implications by examining the experiences of individual early career accountants.More specifically, we will look at socialization aspects that have been expressed by two earlycareer external auditors in the UK who are at their early-career stage (Hall 1976). In particularwe will look to identify examples of identity regulation and identity work. Narrative analysis,as introduced and discussed in the following section, will be applied to bring these aspects to thefore, so that they can be related to auditors individual and collective identities. We believe thisapproach is particularly well suited to this research, as it may be bring both individual andcollective identities very much to the fore. However, there is considerable variety in the literatureon what may count as a narrative, narrative analysis and how it is to be carried out (Riessman1993). Part of the aim of this paper is to be very clear about the approach we take. Therefore, wewill pay significant attention to these aspects below.

Narrative analysis

Some (for example Labov, 1972) assume that a narrative is a story about a particular event thathas already occurred. As such a narrative will have an observable beginning and end and willcontain a number of elements which are common to all narratives. This is the line of reasoningwe will follow here. Denzin (1989) defines a narrative as:

a story that tells a sequence of events that are significant for the narratorand his orher audience Hence narratives are temporal productions The content of a narrativeexists independent of its telling (pp. 37-38, emphasis in original).

Stories link people in time and to events. They help to explain events in terms of human actorswho try to do things over time. Consequently, stories create meaning (McAdams 1993). Whenstories have a plot, coherence, a theme and main point, they may count as narratives (Boje 2001,Myers 2009). McAdams (1993) believes that a story usually contains the following elements,which do not have to be covered sequentially:

The setting of a scene (for instance, a house in a rural area in bad weather conditions) The introduction of the main characters (a man walks past the house) A description of an initiating event (lightning strikes and the house is set on fire) An attempt (the man tries to stop the fire with his jacket) A consequence (alas, this proves to be unsuccessful. The house starts to burn down)


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A reaction (the man informs the fire brigade and the nearest neighbours) Denouement (the house burns down completely. Luckily, nobody was injured as the

house turns out to have been empty. The man walks on, thinking that the roof of hisshed needs to be improved and he really needs a new jacket).

Riessman (1993) suggests that, often, stories will include main characters, key events,consequences, reactions and culminating events, but not all narratives need necessarily followthis pattern exactly. She identifies habitual narratives, hypothetical narratives and topic-centered narratives as alternatives to narratives following a strict format. Riessman (ibid.)further suggests that individuals narrativize in order to make sense of their lives and the events,experiences and actions that form it (also see Schein, 1965). In particular, she suggests thatindividuals may narrativize when they have experienced a breach between ideal and real,

self and society (p. 3) and in times of difficult life transitions and trauma (p. 4). In

instances where the narrator is still experiencing such transitions the narrative will not be able toreach closure, as the underlying trauma and conflict are, as yet, unresolved. Under suchcircumstances, narratives are unlikely to follow some clear, predefined pattern. As stated in the

previous section, the interviewees in this paper are former students of a UK-university whorecently started to work as external auditors, and are thus in transition from being full-timeundergraduate students to becoming early-career professionals (Hall 1976). We conjecture thatstrictly patterned narratives are then probably not so easily found.

In constructing narratives, individuals can claim and fashion identities (Riessman 1993, p. 2),and this is another aspect of particular relevance to this paper. We assume that identities arecontinuously formed and changed through conversation, and expressed in texts (Antaki et al.1996, Benwell and Stokoe 2006, Jenkins 2008, Musson and Duberley 2007). Mertkan-znl(2007) extends this view when she says that:

Identities are crafted out of a dialogic relationship among the researcher, respondents

and the context, are viewed differently by different people in different places at differenttimes, and different scripts can be written by different people involved in this process(p. 453).

Narratives are creations that are partial testimonies and include assumptions made by thenarrator. As such, they are not reflections of the real world, but are interpretations (also seeQuattrone 2006). Similarly, narrative analysis is an interpretative method through which we

can go about systematically interpreting their [narrators] interpretations (Riessman 1993, p.5).In order to conduct narrative analysis it is important that the original narrative remains intact, asotherwise control over the narrative is largely taken from the original narrator by theresearcher(s). It is only within the complete narrative that the original narrators ways ofconstructing meaning can be followed and can, subsequently, be analyzed by the researcher(s).

In narrative analysis, questions are asked like (Riessman 2003): Why was the narrative developed in a specific way, in a specific order? In what kind of stories did the narrator place him- or herself? How have preferred identity claims been made in them? What was the response of the other people who were engaged in the information

exchange?


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How did this affect the development of the narrative? How may this have affected the interpretation by the researcher?

It is not uncommon for narratives to be produced in (research) interview situations (Alvesson2003, Murray 1990). Alvesson (2003) notes that an interview can be interpreted along two

dominant metaphors: as an instrument, to be used effectively by an interviewer/researcher,and/or as a human encounter, aiding the interviewee(s) to provide bona fide responses. From thesecond perspective it is possible to envisage interviewees being given the space and time todevelop narratives and tell stories. In these instances it is incumbent upon the interviewer torefrain, as far as possible, from interrupting the interviewee so as to allow this narrativedevelopment. In the words of Riessman (1993, p. 3) interviewees, if so permitted, may holdthe floor for lengthy turns and sometimes organize replies into long stories.

One particular issue with undertaking a narrative analysis on research interviews is identifyingwhere the narrative begins and where it ends. Generally speaking, narrators will often provideentrance and exit talk to signal the boundaries of a narrative (Jefferson 1979). Examples would

be expressions like Let me tell you something else or This is all I would like to say about. In research interviews, however, these signals may be less obvious and therefore identifyingthe beginning and end of a narrative requires careful consideration as locating them is often acomplex interpretive process (Riessman 1993, p. 18). Although we concurwith Riessman that achange in boundary can dramatically change the narrative and the subsequent analysis thereof,we believe that particularly here, researcher interpretation is inevitable, which makes itimperative that complete transcripts are available from the researcher(s), so as to allow fordifferent narratives to be distilled and/or analyzed by others.

Narrative analysis starts by preparing a rough transcription of what someone (or a group ofpeople) has mentioned (Riessman 1993). When indications of narratives are found in this

transcription, for instance by applying McAdamss (1993) definition of a story, thecorresponding sections have to be transcribed completely. Various transcription techniques areavailable to do this (see, for instance, Czarniawska 2004 and Jefferson 2004). The choice ofwords and pronunciation are important aspects of the narrative that need analysis and can helpinform the interpretation undertaken. From this re-transcribed narrative, a core narrative,depicting only that part of the narrative a researcher finds relevant following the definition thathas been chosen can be prepared. Text lines have to be numbered so that it can be seen howmany lines have been deleted and where this happened (Benwell and Stokoe 2006). Given thetime required to undertake the degree of analysis required narrative analysis is a method thatdoes not lend itself to large samples (Riessman 1993). Rather, it is a method to be used on asmall number of narratives, although more than one is useful if comparison and differentiationare to be achieved. Such analysis is interpretive, but still requires rigor and careful application ifit is to be deemed trustworthy. To achieve trustworthiness, Riessman (1993, p. 68) suggests thatit is important to describe and make visible both the primary data and the analysis undertaken.In terms of primary data it is preferable if both the re-transcribed and core narratives areincluded in ones presentation of the research. For reasons of space, however, only the latter willbe included in this paper, although full transcriptions are available from the corresponding authoron request (Riessman 1993). The following section provides greater description of the datacollection and analysis procedures actually used.


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Data collection

In October 2007, two researchers conducted several semi-structured interviews to evaluate anundergraduate management accounting course that they had recently taught at a UK university.The first version of the course had been developed about ten years before by a senior professor

who was not based at the university anymore. Among others, the course aimed to confrontstudents with several different ways to look at the accounting profession and accounting researchin general, taking in views from, for example, institutional theory, postmodernism and ethicaltheories. Various stakeholders were interviewed (like the original developer of the course, formerteachers and students). In total, thirteen people were interviewed. Ten of these were formerstudents who had either recently entered the profession or were on the brink of doing so. Thestudents were usually interviewed individually, but there were two interviews in which twostudents were interviewed at the same time. Near the end of each interview, it was asked how farthe course at hand had changed students view of the accounting profession. Most studentsanswered this question only briefly, but there were some who, rather than (mainly) answering thequestion, used it as a cue to provide, sometimes lengthy, accounts about the pros and cons ofbeing an external auditor, the difficulties involved in this, how they tried to balance theirprofessional and private life, how they felt about having recently entered an auditing firm, andhow this differed from their experiences during their industrial placement year4 (also seeRiessman 1993). All interviews, which were either conducted by telephone or face-to-face, wererecorded, digitized and saved in WMA-format. Rough transcripts were prepared thereafter by anassistant of the academics. One of the academics knew the corresponding author and providedhim with all the recordings and transcripts of the interviews, for she thought this might appeal tohis research interests. No further details were provided, apart from general information about thecourse that had been evaluated. The corresponding author read the rough transcripts and spottedvarious accounts of students early career impressions. He then got in touch with both academics,

discussed his main research idea, and asked them which interviews, in their view, containedinteresting insights. They immediately singled out two of the three accounts the correspondingauthor had (unknowingly to them) pre-selected. It is these accounts the remainder of this paperwill focus on5. One of the accounts stems from an interview in which two students werequestioned at the same. Only the account of one of these students will be examined 6. The otheraccount stems from a telephone interview with a single interviewee.

Starting from the rough transcription, detailed transcriptions were made by the correspondingauthor using the WMA-files, beginning with the question how the management accountingcourse at hand had impacted students views on accounting in practice. Every line in theinterview that came after this question was numbered, starting with number 1. As interviews

are dialogic in nature, the interviewers tended to interrupt interviewees in order to giveaffirmations, provide personal feedback, ask more detailed questions, etc. (Mertkan-znl

4 The industrial placement is a one year period of employment in industry undertaken by undergraduate students ofthis particular university between their second and final years.5 The third account closely followed the first narrative discussed below, but contained less detail.6 Note that we will not concern ourselves with possible difficulties involved in conducting and comparing groupinterviews vis--vis individual interviews (Hedges 1985). The fact that the two interviewees were asked the samequestion in turn, and sometimes reacted to one another, may have impacted the sequencing (and certainly thenumbering) of the core narrative of the interviewee we would like to focus on. This should be kept in mind whengoing through the appendices.


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2007). In case this happened, the numbering continued, thereby creating an as complete aspossible textual account of the interview that was conducted from a specific point onwards.

In the two appendices, the core narratives are depicted those parts of the narratives we wouldlike to analyze against the background of the previously mentioned literature. Line numbers

indicate where deletions occurred. Insertions by the interviewer are shown in italics. Ostensiblyemotionally fuelled exclamations have been made bold. Deletions were made by thecorresponding author to scrutinize the accounts following McAdamss (1993) list of story

elements. Perhaps other researchers would have made other deletions (Riessman 1993).Therefore, and as previously suggested, full transcriptions are available from the correspondingauthor on request.

Results

First narrative

The first core narrative stems from a telephone interview with a female student who had recentlystarted to work for one of the big auditing firms in the London area. Although Chinese by birth,the student had come to the UK six years before to study accounting, and quickly learned tospeak English. She was very dismissive of her knowledge of the language, but very eager to talkabout the course. Her answers became lengthier as the interview progressed, perhaps because shefelt comfortable with the (also female) interviewer (Alvesson 2003), who had been her coursetutor. The interviewee talked about her early career impressions to a greater extent and withmuch more emotion than all other student interviewees did, sometimes being interrupted by theinterviewer. She seemed very confused by the changes taking place in her life now that she hadentered the auditing profession. Her core narrative is shown in appendix I.

Let us start by pointing out the story elements that we believe are contained in this core narrative,following McAdams (1993). The scene is pictured immediately in lines 1-2: the professionalworld of auditing. In the first part of the narrative, in lines 14-15 (and later also in lines 92-93),the main characters are (re)introduced: senior and early career auditors, the interviewee seeingherself as a member of the latter group. In the same lines, a supposedly general, group portrait ofnew recruits is exchanged for a more personal perspective: that of this particular auditor (also seeHarding 2008). However, in lines 95-142 reference is again made to the group of new recruits asa whole. From line 144 onwards, the focus remains firmly on the auditor herself, and thenarrative becomes laden with emotion, highlighting the confusion the interviewee feels balancingher professional and private life.

The main theme of the narrative we see is pressure. Pressure is exerted on new auditors to gettheir work done quickly, despite the fact that they may want to get a deeper understanding oftheir work first and sometimes want to slow down the auditing process (lines 7-15 and 95-105).Another form of pressure is experienced as well: the pressure to be a full-fledged member ofthe early career auditor group, engaging in all kinds of social activities and helping andcompeting with other early career auditors almost at the same time (lines 7-9, 96-97, 136-138and 156-165) (also see Jeacle 2008). This is part of the firms identity regulation processes(Alvesson and Willmott 2002).


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There are several initiating events in the core narrative. In fact, one could claim that there threemini-stories: one about a senior auditor who does not coach early career members (initiationoccurs in lines 8-9), one about (presumably) the firms top management requiring higher auditfees in the aftermath of the financial crisis (lines 95-100), and one about their (probably again,the firms top management) wish that new recruits hang out together after work, which this

particular auditor has difficulties with (initiated in lines 156-158). Note that only the latter mini-story may be linked with the initiatives taken by professional bodies and large auditing firms tospice up the accounting profession via their recruitment literature (Jeacle 2008), although there

is no indication of this in the narrative. Nevertheless, all mini-stories suggest some kind ofidentity regulation by the auditing firm in question. It is set out what is expected from earlycareer auditors, both on the job and (partly) away from the job, in terms of contacts with senioremployees (this happens perhaps informally), audit fees and social activities (one might presumethese aspects to be formally regulated) (Alvesson and Willmott 2002).

In all three mini-stories, attempt, consequence, reaction and denouement follow up quickly onone another, and are not completely separable. For instance, in the second mini-story, theattempt is to cut administration costs but to keep auditing fees high (lines 99-100), theconsequence being that audited firms may switch auditors more easily as they have higherexpectations that are more difficult to meet (lines 103-104). The reaction is that the auditor inquestion has problems to determine a clear line of action to deal with such forces (lines 104-105). Dealing with them is part of her identity work (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). The tensionsand contradictions that are involved are obvious, and are stressed by the emotionally fuelledsegments in the narrative dealing with these tensions and contradictions (Beech 2008, Paton,Hodgson and Cicmil 2010). The denouement is the same as in the first mini-story (in fact, thesetwo mini-stories seem to result in the same, grander denouement): work and competitiondrive everything, while the social aspects of work arenot along the lines this particular auditorwould like (lines 136-148).

Let us now elaborate on the questions that Riessman (2003) feels need to be tackled in narrativeanalysis. We already answered some of them: the development of the core narrative has been setout above (following McAdams 1993), as well as the stories the narrator placed herself in (thethree mini-stories). Yet, the other questions remain.

The interviewee makes several identity claims. She clearly sees herself as a early career auditor(line 146), trying to find her place in the group of early career auditors in her firm (lines 136-138and 144-148. A particular example of this is presented in lines 12-15). Individual and collectiveidentities as far as work is concerned partly overlap: the example given in lines 12-15 seems tobe something more early career auditors are struggling with (as indicated in lines 92-93), butthere is some personal frustration involved as well (lines 104-105). The interviewee sometimeshas difficulties to behave auditor-like, and it may be that she believes her colleagues are moreapt at this. Such difficulties become more evident when the interviewee talks about her social lifeoutside the firm (lines 158-161). It is hard to merge being a early career auditor, and mostcertainly being a early career auditor in the group of early career auditors at hand, with what theinterviewee personally stands for. This particularly seems to be the case in terms of work culture(lines 139-142) and the joint activities outside of work the interviewee has to undertake withcolleagues (the third mini-story mentioned above). These are instances of alterity (Bragd etal. 2008, Musson and Duberley 2007). In her private life, the (individual identity of the)


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interviewee is quite different from who (the individual identity) she is trying to portray at work(and who she perhaps finds she needs to be when she considers the collective identity of newrecruits). Balancing these identities is very tough (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil2010). Perhaps the interviewee is looking for more guidance from senior partners in her firm(lines 8-11) to alleviate her personal insecurity, but so far this has been without result. The

struggle to balance collective (work) and individual (work-related and private) identities shinesthrough in all three mini-stories.

The way in which the core narrative develops seems to have been affected by the interruptionsfrom the interviewer, who asks the interviewee to provide more details in lines 94 and 143, andalso shares what seem to be some of her personal experiences to balance her professional andprivate life in lines 149-155. These rather personal reflections may have prompted theinterviewee to become more personal as well, as exemplified in lines 156-165. This serves toillustrate that an interview setting, rather than an instrument, may be regarded as a humanencounter inducing specific information exchanges (Alvesson 2003).

This ends our analysis of the first core narrative. The second narrative paints a completelydifferent and much less complex picture on how it is tried to balance collective and individual(work and private) identities, as we will see below.

Second narrative

The second narrative stems from a male student from the U.K. who was about to enter theaccounting profession at the time of the interview. Like the first interviewee, he was interviewedby his former course tutor, together with another student. This tutor was male and had a differentinterview approach than the first interviewer, staying much more in the background despite, attimes, very brief answers by the interviewee (Alvesson 2003). In fact, the interviewer made onlya single remark between lines 19-45 in this particular part of the interview, asking bothinterviewees to talk about changes in career aspirations as a consequence of taking the course athand (lines 35-38not shown in the core narrative). The interviewee seemed to be very relaxedand laid-back throughout, suggesting an approach to life where things are taken as they come.Only when he talked about what his approach to finding a suitable job looked like after havingcompleted his industrial placement year, did he seem to become a little less laid-back and moreaustere.

The interviewee had gained some experience working as an accountant during theaforementioned year, in which he worked alongside a chief financial advisor in a non-disclosedorganization (lines 1-6)7. There is one story contained in the core narrative. The main theme isthe role the interviewee foresees for himself in the future, which is related to an identity that isfirmly individual in nature rather than collective. The interviewee considers how he would like toposition himself as an accountant before entering the profession, placing more emphasis on thetraditional bookkeeping role (lines 46-53) than what he has seen during his placement (lines 4-10) and in journal articles during the module (lines 10-17). He tries to match his individualidentity with what potential employers say they want in the terms of new personnel, withoutchanging this identity too much (lines 51-56). Despite the fact that adaptation may be required atsome point (Grey 1998, Warren and Parker 2009), the interviewee primarily focuses on finding a

7 The first interviewee had also finished her industrial placement year, but only mentioned it once in the interview.


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match with an employer. He does not seem to be inclined (yet) to make the match happen by

changing his own views. What may have contributed to the interviewees standpoint is that hisplacement year was in a finance (management accounting) department of a firm rather than in anauditing firm. It may be that he rejects a particular management accounting identity in favour ofa more financially informed auditing identity. If so, the interviewees perception of the identity

of auditors appears to be that they still operate more like the traditional beancounter role that isoften associated with management accountants. In that case the interviewee may deliberately bewanting to align himself with his perception of a supposedly general auditor (group) identity.This would then involve a manifestation of alterity as well (Beech 2008, Elliott 2001).

In the interview, it is set out how this particular view developed. The main scene is the worksetting of the interviewee during his placement (lines 1-4). Two main characters are introduced:the CFA, whom the interviewee closely worked with, and the interviewee himself (lines 4-13).Very briefly (line 10), fellow students are addressed, but they do not play a significant role in thecore narrative and are not further considered.

There are two initiating events, occurring sequentially: the experiences the interviewee hadworking with the CFA (lines 4-6), and the insights gained from studying journal articles duringthe course at hand (lines 10-12). Initially, the interviewee tried to copy what the CFA was doing(line 6), following the identity regulation present in the placement firm (Alvesson and Willmott2002), but got confused (lines 9-10 and line 17) as his activities went further than preparing thebooks for someone else to interpret (lines 7-8). Taken together, we feel that this constitutes thestorys attempt. The interviewees confusion is typical when identity regulation and identitywork collide and contradictions and tensions arise (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil2010). However, given the interviewees mostly laid-back approach, this confusion does notseem as profound as in case of the first interviewee, although the latter had already entered theprofession full-time at the time of interview. There appears to be little identity work in the corenarrative (but see below for an exception). Tension is witnessed between what the intervieweewould personally like in terms of work and what is (mostly) offered, but he seems to berelatively unhampered by this, sticking closely to his own beliefs despite the repositioning effortsgoing on in the interviewees environment, as evidenced during his placement and illustrated invarious papers read in the module at hand (Jeacle 2008). Interestingly, this tension is perceivedas something positive (there are auditors out there who simply have different opinions on whatthey should do), even though this involves an expression of alterity (Bragd et al. 2008, Beech2008).

After the second initiating event, which we believe is also part of the storys attempt (as

indicated above), the consequence, reaction and denouement are depicted. As a consequence offollowing the course there was some of kind of reconciliation of views, as the intervieweesconfusion about the CFAs behavior lessened (lines 45-56). The interviewee also altered his viewabout the role of the accountant in modern-day organizations (lines 11-17 and lines 48-51),without wanting to associate himself herewith. He thus got a clearer picture of what he wanted todo himself when entering the profession full-time (lines 46-51), which is his reaction and is theonly example of identity work in the core narrative (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). Thedenouement is that that there has been a change in the interviewees job search strategy (lines 51-53). A summary links up the main points of the storys consequence, reaction and denouement(lines 53-56).


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However, we think that it is also possible to interpret this narrative as one that is as yetunresolved (Riessman 1993). There is a conflict between the interviewees own preferred futurechoice of job and (judging from the recruitment literature) the changed role of the accountant inmodern-day organizations. It appears that at the time of the interview the interviewee had

decided upon his preferred job role and a strategy in order to apply for such roles. For thisinterviewee, however, until an appropriate job is located and attained the conflict will naturallyremain unresolved. It is possible that the story could well result in a different ending and thiswould only become apparent as and when this conflict is finally resolved. Under this analysis thedecision to change his job search strategy could be interpreted as an attempt, and theconsequences of and reactions to this attempt were unknown at the time of the interview.Consequently, this interviewee might well continue to form and change his identity through time,until an accountancy job (of any kind) has been found. This alternative view of the narrativedemonstrates the interpretive nature of such analysis, which must be remembered at all times.

In addition, it may be asserted that without the interviewers interruption in lines 35-38, careeraspects would not have been discussed and that these lines should, therefore, be part of the corenarrative. However, this is impossible to tell, as career aspirations seem to have changedprimarily because of the interviewees experiences during his placement year (after all, this is the

main setting addressed) and this might have been brought to the fore even if the interruption hadnot occurred. This serves to illustrate the subjective nature of distilling core narratives that isinvolved in all narrative work (Riessman 1993), and which is perhaps typical of more forms ofresearch (Knights 1995).

This ends our discussion of the second core narrative. The paper will continue with a comparisonof the two narratives and our analyses of them, and then reflect some more on our own role in thelatter.

Comparison

Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998) argue that becoming a professional is a complexaccomplishmentwhich involves induction to a wide array of formal and informal norms whichhave to be taught and learned, whether consciously or not (p. 125, emphasis in original).

Following Feldman (1981), they also note that when auditing firms try to change (potential) newrecruits personal values and attitudes this will be resisted when they feel that a sense of self-control is relegated in the process (also see Schein, 1965). This shines through most prominentlyin the first core narrative of the student who had already entered the profession, as she is the onewho at the time of the interview had to cope with the culture of her firm on a daily basis.

Therefore, whereas in the first core narrative a lot of identity work is going on at various levels(Alvesson and Willmott 2002), both individually and collectively, and in a work setting andprivately, this is almost absent in the second core narrative, where we found just one instance ofidentity work, which is firmly individual. Of course, the fact that there were mini-stories in thefirst narrative may have contributed to this result as well. Another contributing factor may havebeen the fact that at the time of interview, the first interviewee had already entered the professionwhereas the second interviewee had not. He may thus have exhibited a form of wishfulthinking, which was expressed in a laid-back style. The fact that he had no real colleagues or acollective identity in terms of a working firm to base his argument on may have added to hisrather relaxed position. Instead, the first interviewee seemed to be under a kind of reality


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shock: her perceptions of becoming an external auditor looked different from what she had

anticipated, and she seemed to be very emotional about this at several points in the interview(Dean et al.1988).

The two core narratives paint completely different pictures of how to handle the tensions

involved in maintaining and distilling individual and/or collective identities. Whereas the firstinterviewee seemed to struggle a lot herewith, to the point of confusion, the second intervieweeseemed to be inclined to avoid a struggle through a different job search strategy (although onecould claim that this narrative is as of yet unresolved, as argued above). The first intervieweesuggests that she wants to keep up the image generally associated with new entrants in her firmas trendy, outgoing and fun-loving on the one hand, and highly professional on the other. This isin line with Warren and Parkers (2009) thesis that new entrants to professions such as

accounting place increased importance on the professional identity construction based onsimilar principles [of a visually oriented culture] (p. 213). Business leadership and

excitement are two key characteristics that the authors distinguish in this context, which canalso be found in our analysis of the first core narrative, offering (better) client service whilemaintaining high(er) fees (than competitors) being an example of the former (lines 101-105), andbeing fun-loving and outgoing being examples of the latter (lines 156-165).

However, are the tensions and struggles identified in the two core narratives specific for the eraexternal auditors operate in today, or are they more general? Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson(1998) note that perhaps the most significant understanding that audit firms try to instill in newrecruits concerns their code of behavior. Client service is deemed the central value to betransmitted during the socialization period and is clearly part of the written code of conduct the first interviewee talks about (lines 163-164). This seems to be nothing new, and cannotbe seen as a consequence of changes in the recruitment literature (Jeacle 2008). In fact,Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998) claim that instilling codes of behavior is common tomany other professions. Focusing on accounting, Warren and Parker (2009) sustain this viewwhen they say that research has indicated that:

being an accountant might be more a matter of adopting a particular professionalpersona and not [be a derivative] from any stable personality traits as the beancounterstereotype would lead us to believe. (p. 208)

The importance of such self-presentation and impression management (adopting a professional persona) is stressed in the first core narrative as well, when the interviewee talksabout how she has to behave in her affairs with clients while she often feels differently (lines101-105). (Only in) this way, career development may be safeguarded (lines 136-139) (also seeHall 1976). Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998, 2001) concluded something similar intheir study of accounting professionals in the U.K. in the late 1990s. The same holds for thefirms managerial involvement in new recruits social life. In the early stages of their career, thiscommonly happened years ago as well (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998). This seemsto suggest that the changes in the recruitment literature that have been set out earlier on in thispaper do not seem to have led to very different practices by audit firms during the socializationperiod of new recruits. As accounting institutions and member firms have been careful to

preserve the notion of themselves as professionals (ibid., p. 9), this result may not be sosurprising (also see Abbott 1988). It may be, however, that the actual content of these practiceshas changed, at a lower level of detail. For instance, Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998)


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allege that especially during the first weeks of joining a firm, the firms management activelypromotes social life. The first interviewee, albeit indirectly, indicates that the impact ofmanagerial involvement in social life is more extensive, as virtually all weekends something isorganized that interferes with her own plans (lines 156-164). Another example is mentoring(lines 8-15 in the first core narrative). Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (ibid.) claim that

mentoring happens in a structured way, and mostly informally, when new recruits are socialized.The first interviewee points out that mentoring occurs (although nothing is said about it beingformal or informal), but that senior members are often under such pressure that they fail toactually do thisor do it in a way that new recruits find helpful.

Yet, such changes are subtle. The supposedly big array of activities that audit firms undertake fornew recruits to substantiate a money, career and friends galore! (Jeacle 2008, p. 1305)

seems to have been present all along. Such utterances may, therefore, be just another form ofimpression management to sustain the image of accounting as a profession (Warren and Parker2009). The question is whether such impression management really does justice to what ishappening in the profession when the standpoint of new recruits is taken. Is this really what firmsneed or want to portray? Will this keep on attracting new recruits in the future, when actualpractice seems to be much different? Is this a situation that is recommendable? Questions likethese come to the fore when looking at our results for what is sometimes termed a policyperspective. Perhaps the two narratives we have presented, which include two different ways ofdealing with questions such as the above, give rise to interesting discussions on exactly theseissues.

Final note

There is another way of looking at our analysis of the interview excerpts than the one we justdescribed. Alvesson (2003) alleges that interviews can be interpreted along two dominantmetaphors: as an instrument, to be used effectively by a researcher, and/or as a human encounterbetween interviewer(s) and interviewee(s) that somehow reveals certain questions and answers.When this division and the ensuing multiplicity of perspectives on which the interpretation ofinterview material can be based are accepted, the eclecticism inherent in researchersinterpretative frames is acknowledged. As the authors of this article knew the interviewerspersonally, it may be that this influenced the way they interpreted the narratives and theemphases they have placed in the above account. However, this is also impossible to tell.Qualitative research creates many possibilities to generate different stories and (analyses of)narratives (Alvesson and Skldberg 2000, Riessman 1993). The argument made in this paper,which is in line with Riessmans (2003) views on the presentation of narrative analysis, is thatthe writing-up of qualitative research would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocalnature of interpretation. The way in which we presented and discussed this particular narrativehopefully brings this to the fore.

Pentland (1999) suggests that from narrative analysis, it is possible to identify patterns that areinherent in all the narratives analyzed, which can subsequently help to build theory (also seeAhrens and Dent 1998). Although it will not be declined that looking at narratives in a certain,pre-specified way (like by using McAdams 1993 list of story elements) will lead to certaininsights that may be called patterns, we find the bridge to theory building too far, as this would


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imply that interpretations are equivocal. We believe that they can and will differ betweenresearchers and between narratives, even when the same researcher analyzes them.

We hope that the way in which we presented the results, following Riessman (2003), may serveas an invitation to other researchers to analyze the same material, or different material, along

similar lines, and may perhaps also induce a policy discussion or two (as indicated above).


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Appendix I: First core narrative

1 ... Say in the professional world,2 say, obviously, in the professional world people have different personalities3 although from always, like, encourage people to work as a team, we do work

4 as a team but at the same time because of, say, the pressure of the work,5 because the budget is so tight and then everyone gets allocated more work6 and then under pressure you can actually see how people actually behave in7 the team. It is important to help others like to complete, not complete their8 work, you know assist their work. A favorite example is a senior level team9 member, they should coach the junior team members but when they get a

10 really heavy workload they probably wouldnt have enough time to coach11 junior members of the team. But at the same time the junior member probably12 wouldnt know how, what to do, but, you know, always feel do I really want to13 ask questions at this time because everyone looks very stressed out?. Then14 youre constantly pushing, like, things back, certain things make me feel well15 whats the point?.

92 ... the workload we get makes the work very intense and93 the people just really, really want to get their job done.94 Time is a constraint, no?

95 Yes, its get the job done, get the job done, 1,2,3,4, its that, get it done, like96 that. Meet the deadline! And also because of competition among professionals97 and the fee. Say the firm maybe requires higher fees because maybe we think98 we provide quality service, but other firms maybe provide lower fees because99 they see their competitors fees. Especially now we have the credit crunch100 right now, everyone just tries to cut down their admin fees. So, at the same

101 time, we want to keep our clients. What do we do about it? We really maintain

102 very high fees so at the end of the day clients expectations will be very high

103 because they pay more. If they feel that we are not meeting the requirements

104 they want, they can easily switch to other auditors. So I found its difficult, I

105 dont know how to improve that but it is really difficult ...

136 At the end of the day, everyone wants to get promoted and most people in

137 this industry are quite competitive and they want to perform well, they want to

138 get promotion. So the personal motives can drive actually. I think its strong

139 enough to drive the business. You can drive the business in a very human

140 way; it can also drive the business to very, shall I say, oh, I dont know how to

141 describe it; you know, sort of like, get work done and handling by that line you

14 know - that sort of working culture.


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214

3 Very competitive.

144 So I think its quite difficult. I think, really, firms need to have different people,

145 you cant really select one type of people, you will cause some problems in

146 the future. But I dontknow, Im quite junior in the firm anyway, I dont know

147 how people work from senior level. But just from my little perceptions about

148 how people work in firms I sort of feel like that, you know.

14

9 Hopefully later on you will feel like, you will find your mates! Of course, every

15

0 Environment is difficult and especially sometimes you know, its in the early

15

1 career steps that everything becomes so intense, but dont change, be who

15

2 you are and then you could make a difference from where you are.15

3 Sometimes, we try to adjust ourselves to the conditions but when things are

15

4 like the jungle, what do you have to adjust yourself into? Just be yourself and

15

5 keep your eyes open and you can make a difference I think.

156 Yes, hopefully! Its quite difficult because they do actually encourage you to

157 actually, you know, being a team as a whole, stay social together as well, but

158 people have different interests like me, I dont actually. I prefer after work to sit in

159 my room and read some books, thats my social life. And also really to go out

160 with my close friends, have a meal and maybe watch a film together and I

161 also have bible study all the time at weekends, during weekdays, and I then I

162 think, found sometimes, maybe we have less in common, like me and my

163 colleagues. But the expectations the firm has; I think its a written code of

164 conduct, sort of. They probably prefer people doing things together so thats

16

5 why I think its quite difficult for, shall I say, certain types of people.


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Appendix II: Second core narrative

1 my experience during the2 placement year came back to me because I remember while I was on3 placement I was working with the Chief Financial Advisor and obviously he4 was the accountant there as well. He was normally involved in so many

5 things and I thought, because obviously I wanted to be an accountant, I6 thought, right, I want to be an accountant, I want to do what hes doing,7 cause he would organize meetings and he would, like, talk, to certain people8 about issues which had nothing to do with accounting, Well, I couldnt have9 seen ... I was thinking I want to be an accountant, but I dont want to manage

10 people. Whereas, well, obviously, we looked at journals, recent journals11 about the stuff that accountants have to do now, it became more apparent to12 me as to why he was doing those things. That there isnt in fact just the role13 of a financial accountant at the moment, it has obviously evolved over time.14 And now an accountant might be required to do stuff that he was doing like15 managing people and managing time. Its looking at whats actually involved16 like stock provisions and what was ordered. A wider role than I would have

17 thought of initially. So, I think, while I was there I was a bit confused but after18 Ive been doing the module some of those issues became more clearer to me19 in terms of why he maybe was doing such things.

45 now Im more aware of the fact that you cant get away46 from these other little bits that you need to do as an accountant. Because of47 that I actually made a conscious effort to look at financial accounting in terms48 of ACA and ACCA because, obviously, I enjoy the number bits more and I try49 to make sure I dont go away too far from that side of accounting without50 obviously losing out on the fact that I will have to do these other things that51 Ive been exposed to but obviously Ive made more of a conscious effort to52 look for jobs where that numerical side or that financial accounting side is still

53 in tact and that youll still be required to do those kinds of jobs. So yeah,54 maybe earlier on I probably would have just gone for any accounting jobs55 thinking it would all be the same, whereas now Im aware that there are other56 bits and I would be more inclined to look at in the financial sector.

Documents

A Narrative Approach to Studying Early Career Impressions of External Auditors