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

Ivo De Loo Nyenrode Business University School of Accountancy and Controlling Straatweg 25 3621 BG Breukelen The Netherlands Phone: +31 346 291 024 Fax: +31 346 291 250 E-mail: i.deloo@nyenrode.nl

Stuart Cooper Aston Business School Accounting & Finance Group Birmingham, United Kingdom

Melina Manochin Aston Business School Accounting & Finance Group Birmingham, United Kingdom

The comments received from Florian Gebreiter and Sally Widener on an earlier version of this paper are very much appreciated. The usual disclaimer applies.

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Abstract In this paper, we put the view that identities can be expressed in and changed through texts. After having explained why narrative analysis may be an interesting approach to study such texts, we look at the socialization processes of two early career external auditors that have been articulated in 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 and struggles may result in changes in ones individual and/or collective identities. We indicate that although many of the socialization processes that new recruits undergo seem to have remained unchanged over the years, there may be subtle changes occurring in these processes, as suggested by our narratives.

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Introduction The real you is so different from the image youre portraying and if its inside you weve got to get it and haul it out, Jane, and, you know, put it on the outside (Benwell and Stokoe 2006, p. 2, emphasis in original). The above quote, taken from a television show discussing the way people dress, serves to illustrate that people tend to categorize themselves, as well as others, almost all the time, either individually or collectively (Jenkins 2008, Thoits and Virshup 1997). Examples include categorizing 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 these help people to stabilize, structure and interpret their surroundings, create possibilities to exert power, 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 when they 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 can have a perception of ones own identity or identities. They can, however, also be determined by others. 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 Virshup 1997). 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 (Benwell and Stokoe 2006, Jenkins 2008). We purport that every identity evolves around the following questions: 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 do not necessarily involve negative associations (Beech 2008). It is assumed that identities are created 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 identity and 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 of people that can be distinguished beforehand, based on some categorization criterion (like airplane 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 aspects informing identities (Schein 1965). A lot of scientific research has been conducted on identity matters, with researchers stemming from, 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 either on the brink of entering the profession or have recently entered it (Hall 1976). There is very little empirically founded material on the identities of auditors available that builds from the individual level (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998, 2001 and Jeacle 2008 appear to be among the few examples available). Warren and Parker (2009) assert that: Little is currently known about the way in which accountants as individual professionals, develop and sustain their own personal and professional identities, given the current array of role and image definitions promulgated in the professional and general 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 is particularly timely and relevant given the apparent change in the recruitment literature of large accounting firms and professional bodies that has recently been witnessed, in which the previously dull and strict accountant stereotype has been exchanged for a more trendy, funloving 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) auditors have to operate. A specific form of narrative analysis will be applied to assess auditors identities, following the view that identities can be expressed in texts (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). Narrative analysis can be used to study personal experience and meaning in management and organizational settings (Myers 2009, p. 218). Although it is often applied to describe the life history of individuals, narrative analysis can also be helpful to analyze significant events that take place in the working life of individuals (Myers ibid.), which is the view adopted here. When doing narrative work, Riessman (1993) advises to use a specific definition of a narrative, to be clear and open-minded about ones interpretations, to be open about ones doubts, and to give room to other interpretations, among others by letting other researchers, 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 research account (Riessman ibid.). Our research has important theoretical and practical implications. Firstly, an apparent research gap is addressed as individual expressions of identities by accountants/auditors are not often studied (Warren and Parker 2009). Secondly, our research may give an impression how early career accountants cope with the repositioning efforts of the profession exhibited by professional bodies and accounting firms (Jeacle 2008). This paper will proceed as follows. After an overview of the existing literature on developments in the auditing profession, particularly in relation to individual and collective identities, we will -4-

discuss the narrative analysis approach we adopted. This will then be related to two narratives from 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 about their identities gathered from the narratives will then be compared to previous literature, leading to 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 similarity seeking 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 essential characteristics shared by members of a group. However, the narrative approach to identities that we adopt here denies there is any essential self, and suggests it is constructed and remade in interaction with others (Phillips and Hardy 1997, Hardy and Phillips 1999), and that it contains contradictory voices (Czarniawska-Joerges 1996). Not everyone will feel the same about a person or a group of persons, and how they may be viewed. Besides, these views can change over time. Think for example about (former) presidents, a soccer team, or accountants from a Big-4 company (Carnegie and Napier 2010). Consequently, collective identities are inherently fluid and flexible rather than fixed. The form and meaning of such identities is sensitive to changing features of the comparative and normative context in which they are framed and expressed (Haslam and Turner 1992). This fluidity makes it easier for collective identities to be manufactured and managed1. Group leaders are said to be the entrepreneurs of a specific collective identity, whose influence derives from their capacity to define themselves as a representative of a social category (Reicher, Haslam and Hopkins 2005). Again, accountants from a Big-4 company may be a case in point (Carnegie and Napier 2010). Collective identities have been investigated and theorized as a relational process. The nature of a groups role-relationship, such as that between a universitys senior management and its deans, is fundamentally interpersonal. It may largely be understood with reference to a network of interdependent roles. Relational identities therefore knit a network of roles and role incumbents together into a social system (Sluss and Ashforth 2007). A role-based identity is consequently linked with the goal, values, beliefs, norms, interaction styles, and time horizons typically associated with the role, independent of who (what kind of person or collective) may be enacting the 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 an accountants 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 and Robson 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

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 of early 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 are engaged in a recruitment discourse, trying to attract individuals to the profession by portraying the 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 blows in recent years because of various bookkeeping scandals and the commercialization of the accounting profession (Hanlon 1994, Sikka 2009). Consequently, auditing firms sponsor an array of 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 be accompanied by another, positive, but also exaggerated stereotype of the trendy accountant. In line with this, Grey (1998) already suggested that being a professional accountant might be more about 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 management control within organizations may be accomplished through the self-positioning of employees in managerial discourses about work and organization. They introduce the notions of identity regulation 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 type of collective identity. This might entail the distribution of company leaflets to stress the trendy and 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 is incorporated. 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 own experiences, influences and inspirations with these to a smaller or larger extent. This may lead to tensions (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil 2010), contradictions and conflicts within or between 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 are either 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 be substantiated 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
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This refers to the whole gamut of ways in which the meaning and conduct of professional membership is transmitted (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998, p. 1). Stated different ly, it is about the making of accounting professionals. 3 Interestingly, a similar development can be seen in job adverts for management accountants and accounting software in professional magazines (Baldvinsdottir et al. 2009). It is found that the general view on management accountants over the last 30 years has changed from responsible and rational to more hedonistic and pleasure seeking.

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among individuals. They have to be the best, the group leader (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998; also see Reicher, Haslam and Hopkins 2005). This is an example of identity regulation. Consequently, new recruits have to adapt themselves to the culture of their audit firm and identify what it means to be a professional. Among others, feelings of group commitment and 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 auditors perceive and deal with a variety of changes they may experience in their professional and private life (and the balance between the two) when entering the profession. Since accounting and nonaccounting graduates seeking to enter the profession seem to have very similar personality preferences (Andon, Chong and Roebuck 2010), such developments may yield substantial effects on how auditing practices are exercised and how the profession is viewed in the future, with possibly far-reaching theoretical and practical implications. This paper tries to signal some of these implications by examining the experiences of individual early career accountants. More specifically, we will look at socialization aspects that have been expressed by two early career external auditors in the UK who are at their early-career stage (Hall 1976). In particular we 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 the fore, so that they can be related to auditors individual and collective identities. We believe this approach is particularly well suited to this research, as it may be bring both individual and collective identities very much to the fore. However, there is considerable variety in the literature on what may count as a narrative, narrative analysis and how it is to be carried out (Riessman 1993). Part of the aim of this paper is to be very clear about the approach we take. Therefore, we will 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 that has already occurred. As such a narrative will have an observable beginning and end and will contain a number of elements which are common to all narratives. This is the line of reasoning we will follow here. Denzin (1989) defines a narrative as: a story that tells a sequence of events that are significant for the narrator and his or her audience Hence narratives are temporal productions The content of a narrative exists 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 actors who try to do things over time. Consequently, stories create meaning (McAdams 1993). When stories 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 his shed 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 follow this pattern exactly. She identifies habitual narratives, hypothetical narratives and topiccentered 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 that individuals 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 to reach closure, as the underlying trauma and conflict are, as yet, unresolved. Under such circumstances, 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 who recently started to work as external auditors, and are thus in transition from being full-time undergraduate students to becoming early-career professionals (Hall 1976). We conjecture that strictly 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 are continuously 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 different times, 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 the narrator. As such, they are not reflections of the real world, but are interpretations (also see Quattrone 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, as otherwise control over the narrative is largely taken from the original narrator by the researcher(s). It is only within the complete narrative that the original narrators ways of constructing 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 (Alvesson 2003, 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 the second perspective it is possible to envisage interviewees being given the space and time to develop narratives and tell stories. In these instances it is incumbent upon the interviewer to refrain, as far as possible, from interrupting the interviewee so as to allow this narrative development. In the words of Riessman (1993, p. 3) interviewees, if so permitted, may hold the floor for lengthy turns and sometimes organize replies into long stories. One particular issue with undertaking a narrative analysis on research interviews is identifying where the narrative begins and where it ends. Generally speaking, narrators will often provide entrance 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 identifying the beginning and end of a narrative requires careful consideration as locating them is often a complex interpretive process (Riessman 1993, p. 18). Although we concur with Riessman that a change in boundary can dramatically change the narrative and the subsequent analysis thereof, we believe that particularly here, researcher interpretation is inevitable, which makes it imperative that complete transcripts are available from the researcher(s), so as to allow for different narratives to be distilled and/or analyzed by others. Narrative analysis starts by preparing a rough transcription of what someone (or a group of people) has mentioned (Riessman 1993). When indications of narratives are found in this transcription, for instance by applying McAdamss (1993) definition of a story, the corresponding sections have to be transcribed completely. Various transcription techniques are available to do this (see, for instance, Czarniawska 2004 and Jefferson 2004). The choice of words and pronunciation are important aspects of the narrative that need analysis and can help inform 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 that has been chosen can be prepared. Text lines have to be numbered so that it can be seen how many lines have been deleted and where this happened (Benwell and Stokoe 2006). Given the time required to undertake the degree of analysis required narrative analysis is a method that does not lend itself to large samples (Riessman 1993). Rather, it is a method to be used on a small number of narratives, although more than one is useful if comparison and differentiation are to be achieved. Such analysis is interpretive, but still requires rigor and careful application if it is to be deemed trustworthy. To achieve trustworthiness, Riessman (1993, p. 68) suggests that it 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 are included in ones presentation of the research. For reasons of space, however, only the latter will be included in this paper, although full transcriptions are available from the corresponding author on request (Riessman 1993). The following section provides greater description of the data collection and analysis procedures actually used.

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Data collection In October 2007, two researchers conducted several semi-structured interviews to evaluate an undergraduate 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 confront students with several different ways to look at the accounting profession and accounting research in general, taking in views from, for example, institutional theory, postmodernism and ethical theories. Various stakeholders were interviewed (like the original developer of the course, former teachers and students). In total, thirteen people were interviewed. Ten of these were former students who had either recently entered the profession or were on the brink of doing so. The students were usually interviewed individually, but there were two interviews in which two students were interviewed at the same time. Near the end of each interview, it was asked how far the course at hand had changed students view of the accounting profession. Most students answered this question only briefly, but there were some who, rather than (mainly) answering the question, used it as a cue to provide, sometimes lengthy, accounts about the pros and cons of being an external auditor, the difficulties involved in this, how they tried to balance their professional and private life, how they felt about having recently entered an auditing firm, and how this differed from their experiences during their industrial placement year4 (also see Riessman 1993). All interviews, which were either conducted by telephone or face-to-face, were recorded, digitized and saved in WMA-format. Rough transcripts were prepared thereafter by an assistant of the academics. One of the academics knew the corresponding author and provided him with all the recordings and transcripts of the interviews, for she thought this might appeal to his research interests. No further details were provided, apart from general information about the course that had been evaluated. The corresponding author read the rough transcripts and spotted various 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, contained interesting insights. They immediately singled out two of the three accounts the corresponding author had (unknowingly to them) pre-selected. It is these accounts the remainder of this paper will focus on5. One of the accounts stems from an interview in which two students were questioned at the same. Only the account of one of these students will be examined6. The other account stems from a telephone interview with a single interviewee. Starting from the rough transcription, detailed transcriptions were made by the corresponding author using the WMA-files, beginning with the question how the management accounting course at hand had impacted students views on accounting in practice. Every line in the interview 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 give affirmations, 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 of this 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 group interviews vis--vis individual interviews (Hedges 1985). The fact that the two interviewees were asked the same question in turn, and sometimes reacted to one another, may have impacted the sequencing (and certainly the numbering) of the core narrative of the interviewee we would like to focus on. This should be kept in mind when going through the appendices.

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2007). In case this happened, the numbering continued, thereby creating an as complete as possible 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 would like to analyze against the background of the previously mentioned literature. Line numbers indicate where deletions occurred. Insertions by the interviewer are shown in italics. Ostensibly emotionally fuelled exclamations have been made bold. Deletions were made by the corresponding 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 corresponding author on request.

Results First narrative The first core narrative stems from a telephone interview with a female student who had recently started 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 to speak English. She was very dismissive of her knowledge of the language, but very eager to talk about the course. Her answers became lengthier as the interview progressed, perhaps because she felt comfortable with the (also female) interviewer (Alvesson 2003), who had been her course tutor. The interviewee talked about her early career impressions to a greater extent and with much more emotion than all other student interviewees did, sometimes being interrupted by the interviewer. She seemed very confused by the changes taking place in her life now that she had entered 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 professional world 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 seeing herself as a member of the latter group. In the same lines, a supposedly general, group portrait of new recruits is exchanged for a more personal perspective: that of this particular auditor (also see Harding 2008). However, in lines 95-142 reference is again made to the group of new recruits as a whole. From line 144 onwards, the focus remains firmly on the auditor herself, and the narrative becomes laden with emotion, highlighting the confusion the interviewee feels balancing her professional and private life. The main theme of the narrative we see is pressure. Pressure is exerted on new auditors to get their work done quickly, despite the fact that they may want to get a deeper understanding of their 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 of the early career auditor group, engaging in all kinds of social activities and helping and competing with other early career auditors almost at the same time (lines 7-9, 96-97, 136-138 and 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 three mini-stories: one about a senior auditor who does not coach early career members (initiation occurs in lines 8-9), one about (presumably) the firms top management requiring higher audit fees 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 ministory may be linked with the initiatives taken by professional bodies and large auditing firms to spice 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 of identity regulation by the auditing firm in question. It is set out what is expected from early career auditors, both on the job and (partly) away from the job, in terms of contacts with senior employees (this happens perhaps informally), audit fees and social activities (one might presume these aspects to be formally regulated) (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). In all three mini-stories, attempt, consequence, reaction and denouement follow up quickly on one another, and are not completely separable. For instance, in the second mini-story, the attempt is to cut administration costs but to keep auditing fees high (lines 99-100), the consequence being that audited firms may switch auditors more easily as they have higher expectations that are more difficult to meet (lines 103-104). The reaction is that the auditor in question has problems to determine a clear line of action to deal with such forces (lines 104105). Dealing with them is part of her identity work (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). The tensions and contradictions that are involved are obvious, and are stressed by the emotionally fuelled segments 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, these two mini-stories seem to result in the same, grander denouement): work and competition drive everything, while the social aspects of work arenot along the lines this particular auditor would like (lines 136-148). Let us now elaborate on the questions that Riessman (2003) feels need to be tackled in narrative analysis. We already answered some of them: the development of the core narrative has been set out above (following McAdams 1993), as well as the stories the narrator placed herself in (the three 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 136-138 and 144-148. A particular example of this is presented in lines 12-15). Individual and collective identities as far as work is concerned partly overlap: the example given in lines 12-15 seems to be something more early career auditors are struggling with (as indicated in lines 92-93), but there is some personal frustration involved as well (lines 104-105). The interviewee sometimes has difficulties to behave auditor-like, and it may be that she believes her colleagues are more apt at this. Such difficulties become more evident when the interviewee talks about her social life outside the firm (lines 158-161). It is hard to merge being a early career auditor, and most certainly being a early career auditor in the group of early career auditors at hand, with what the interviewee 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 with colleagues (the third mini-story mentioned above). These are instances of alterity (Bragd et al. 2008, Musson and Duberley 2007). In her private life, the (individual identity of the) -12-

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 new recruits). Balancing these identities is very tough (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil 2010). 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 shines through in all three mini-stories. The way in which the core narrative develops seems to have been affected by the interruptions from the interviewer, who asks the interviewee to provide more details in lines 94 and 143, and also shares what seem to be some of her personal experiences to balance her professional and private life in lines 149-155. These rather personal reflections may have prompted the interviewee to become more personal as well, as exemplified in lines 156-165. This serves to illustrate that an interview setting, rather than an instrument, may be regarded as a human encounter inducing specific information exchanges (Alvesson 2003). This ends our analysis of the first core narrative. The second narrative paints a completely different 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 the accounting profession at the time of the interview. Like the first interviewee, he was interviewed by his former course tutor, together with another student. This tutor was male and had a different interview approach than the first interviewer, staying much more in the background despite, at times, very brief answers by the interviewee (Alvesson 2003). In fact, the interviewer made only a single remark between lines 19-45 in this particular part of the interview, asking both interviewees to talk about changes in career aspirations as a consequence of taking the course at hand (lines 35-38 not shown in the core narrative). The interviewee seemed to be very relaxed and 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 having completed his industrial placement year, did he seem to become a little less laid-back and more austere. The interviewee had gained some experience working as an accountant during the aforementioned year, in which he worked alongside a chief financial advisor in a non-disclosed organization (lines 1-6)7. There is one story contained in the core narrative. The main theme is the role the interviewee foresees for himself in the future, which is related to an identity that is firmly individual in nature rather than collective. The interviewee considers how he would like to position himself as an accountant before entering the profession, placing more emphasis on the traditional bookkeeping role (lines 46-53) than what he has seen during his placement (lines 410) and in journal articles during the module (lines 10-17). He tries to match his individual identity with what potential employers say they want in the terms of new personnel, without changing this identity too much (lines 51-56). Despite the fact that adaptation may be required at some 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 his placement year was in a finance (management accounting) department of a firm rather than in an auditing firm. It may be that he rejects a particular management accounting identity in favour of a 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 is often associated with management accountants. In that case the interviewee may deliberately be wanting 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 work setting 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 the core narrative and are not further considered. There are two initiating events, occurring sequentially: the experiences the interviewee had working with the CFA (lines 4-6), and the insights gained from studying journal articles during the 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 Willmott 2002), but got confused (lines 9-10 and line 17) as his activities went further than preparing the books for someone else to interpret (lines 7-8). Taken together, we feel that this constitutes the storys attempt. The interviewees confusion is typical when identity regulation and identity work collide and contradictions and tensions arise (Beech 2008, Paton, Hodgson and Cicmil 2010). However, given the interviewees mostly laid-back approach, this confusion does not seem as profound as in case of the first interviewee, although the latter had already entered the profession full-time at the time of interview. There appears to be little identity work in the core narrative (but see below for an exception). Tension is witnessed between what the interviewee would personally like in terms of work and what is (mostly) offered, but he seems to be relatively unhampered by this, sticking closely to his own beliefs despite the repositioning efforts going on in the interviewees environment, as evidenced during his placement and illustrated in various papers read in the module at hand (Jeacle 2008). Interestingly, this tension is perceived as something positive (there are auditors out there who simply have different opinions on what they should do), even though this involves an expression of alterity (Bragd et al. 2008, Beech 2008). 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 of following the course there was some of kind of reconciliation of views, as the interviewees confusion about the CFAs behavior lessened (lines 45-56). The interviewee also altered his view about 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 to do himself when entering the profession full-time (lines 46-51), which is his reaction and is the only example of identity work in the core narrative (Alvesson and Willmott 2002). The denouement is that that there has been a change in the interviewees job search strategy (lines 5153). A summary links up the main points of the storys consequence, reaction and denouement (lines 53-56). -14-

However, we think that it is also possible to interpret this narrative as one that is as yet unresolved (Riessman 1993). There is a conflict between the interviewees own preferred future choice of job and (judging from the recruitment literature) the changed role of the accountant in modern-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 this interviewee, however, until an appropriate job is located and attained the conflict will naturally remain unresolved. It is possible that the story could well result in a different ending and this would only become apparent as and when this conflict is finally resolved. Under this analysis the decision to change his job search strategy could be interpreted as an attempt, and the consequences 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 narrative demonstrates 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, career aspects would not have been discussed and that these lines should, therefore, be part of the core narrative. However, this is impossible to tell, as career aspirations seem to have changed primarily 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 had not occurred. This serves to illustrate the subjective nature of distilling core narratives that is involved in all narrative work (Riessman 1993), and which is perhaps typical of more forms of research (Knights 1995). This ends our discussion of the second core narrative. The paper will continue with a comparison of the two narratives and our analyses of them, and then reflect some more on our own role in the latter. Comparison Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998) argue that becoming a professional is a complex accomplishment which involves induction to a wide array of formal and informal norms which have 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) new recruits personal values and attitudes this will be resisted when they feel that a sense of selfcontrol is relegated in the process (also see Schein, 1965). This shines through most prominently in the first core narrative of the student who had already entered the profession, as she is the one who 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 and privately, this is almost absent in the second core narrative, where we found just one instance of identity work, which is firmly individual. Of course, the fact that there were mini-stories in the first narrative may have contributed to this result as well. Another contributing factor may have been the fact that at the time of interview, the first interviewee had already entered the profession whereas the second interviewee had not. He may thus have exhibited a form of wishful thinking, which was expressed in a laid-back style. The fact that he had no real colleagues or a collective identity in terms of a working firm to base his argument on may have added to his rather relaxed position. Instead, the first interviewee seemed to be under a kind of reality -15-

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 first interviewee seemed to struggle a lot herewith, to the point of confusion, the second interviewee seemed to be inclined to avoid a struggle through a different job search strategy (although one could claim that this narrative is as of yet unresolved, as argued above). The first interviewee suggests that she wants to keep up the image generally associated with new entrants in her firm as trendy, outgoing and fun-loving on the one hand, and highly professional on the other. This is in line with Warren and Parkers (2009) thesis that new entrants to professions such as accounting place increased importance on the professional identity construction based on similar principles [of a visually oriented culture] (p. 213). Business leadership and excitement are two key characteristics that the authors distinguish in this context, which can also be found in our analysis of the first core narrative, offering (better) client service while maintaining high(er) fees (than competitors) being an example of the former (lines 101-105), and being 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 era external 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 new recruits concerns their code of behavior. Client service is deemed the central value to be transmitted 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 cannot be 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 to many other professions. Focusing on accounting, Warren and Parker (2009) sustain this view when they say that research has indicated that: being an accountant might be more a matter of adopting a particular professional persona and not [be a derivative] from any stable personality traits as the beancounter stereotype 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 talks about how she has to behave in her affairs with clients while she often feels differently (lines 101-105). (Only in) this way, career development may be safeguarded (lines 136-139) (also see Hall 1976). Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998, 2001) concluded something similar in their study of accounting professionals in the U.K. in the late 1990s. The same holds for the firms managerial involvement in new recruits social life. In the early stages of their career, this commonly happened years ago as well (Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson 1998). This seems to suggest that the changes in the recruitment literature that have been set out earlier on in this paper do not seem to have led to very different practices by audit firms during the socialization period 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 so surprising (also see Abbott 1988). It may be, however, that the actual content of these practices has changed, at a lower level of detail. For instance, Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (1998) -16-

allege that especially during the first weeks of joining a firm, the firms management actively promotes social life. The first interviewee, albeit indirectly, indicates that the impact of managerial involvement in social life is more extensive, as virtually all weekends something is organized 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 being formal or informal), but that senior members are often under such pressure that they fail to actually do this or 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 for new 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 of impression management to sustain the image of accounting as a profession (Warren and Parker 2009). The question is whether such impression management really does justice to what is happening in the profession when the standpoint of new recruits is taken. Is this really what firms need or want to portray? Will this keep on attracting new recruits in the future, when actual practice seems to be much different? Is this a situation that is recommendable? Questions like these come to the fore when looking at our results for what is sometimes termed a policy perspective. Perhaps the two narratives we have presented, which include two different ways of dealing with questions such as the above, give rise to interesting discussions on exactly these issues.

Final note There is another way of looking at our analysis of the interview excerpts than the one we just described. Alvesson (2003) alleges that interviews can be interpreted along two dominant metaphors: as an instrument, to be used effectively by a researcher, and/or as a human encounter between 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 of interview material can be based are accepted, the eclecticism inherent in researchers interpretative frames is acknowledged. As the authors of this article knew the interviewers personally, it may be that this influenced the way they interpreted the narratives and the emphases 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 that the writing-up of qualitative research would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocal nature of interpretation. The way in which we presented and discussed this particular narrative hopefully brings this to the fore. Pentland (1999) suggests that from narrative analysis, it is possible to identify patterns that are inherent in all the narratives analyzed, which can subsequently help to build theory (also see Ahrens 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 certain insights 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 between researchers 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 serve as 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 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 10 0 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 13 6 13 7 13 8 13 9 14 0 14 1 14 ... Say in the professional world, say, obviously, in the professional world people have different personalities although from always, like, encourage people to work as a team, we do work as a team but at the same time because of, say, the pressure of the work, because the budget is so tight and then everyone gets allocated more work and then under pressure you can actually see how people actually behave in the team. It is important to help others like to complete, not complete their work, you know assist their work. A favorite example is a senior level team member, they should coach the junior team members but when they get a really heavy workload they probably wouldnt have enough time to coach junior members of the team. But at the same time the junior member probably wouldnt know how, what to do, but, you know, always feel do I really want to ask questions at this time because everyone looks very stressed out?. Then youre constantly pushing, like, things back, certain things make me feel well whats the point?. ... the workload we get makes the work very intense and the people just really, really want to get their job done. Time is a constraint, no? Yes, its get the job done, get the job done, 1,2,3,4, its that, get it done, like that. Meet the deadline! And also because of competition among professionals and the fee. Say the firm maybe requires higher fees because maybe we think we provide quality service, but other firms maybe provide lower fees because they see their competitors fees. Especially now we have the credit crunch right now, everyone just tries to cut down their admin fees. So, at the same time, we want to keep our clients. What do we do about it? We really maintain very high fees so at the end of the day clients expectations will be very high because they pay more. If they feel that we are not meeting the requirements they want, they can easily switch to other auditors. So I found its difficult, I dont know how to improve that but it is really difficult ...

At the end of the day, everyone wants to get promoted and most people in this industry are quite competitive and they want to perform well, they want to get promotion. So the personal motives can drive actually. I think its strong enough to drive the business. You can drive the business in a very human way; it can also drive the business to very, shall I say, oh, I dont know how to describe it; you know, sort of like, get work done and handling by that line you know - that sort of working culture.

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2 14 3 14 4 14 5 14 6 14 7 14 8 14 9 15 0 15 1 15 2 15 3 15 4 15 5 15 6 15 7 15 8 15 9 16 0 16 1 16 2 16 3 16 4 16 5

Very competitive. So I think its quite difficult. I think, really, firms need to have different people, you cant really select one type of people, you will cause some problems in the future. But I dont know, Im quite junior in the firm anyway, I dont know how people work from senior level. But just from my little perceptions about how people work in firms I sort of feel like that, you know. Hopefully later on you will feel like, you will find your mates! Of course, every Environment is difficult and especially sometimes you know, its in the early career steps that everything becomes so intense, but dont change, be who you are and then you could make a difference from where you are. Sometimes, we try to adjust ourselves to the conditions but when things are like the jungle, what do you have to adjust yourself into? Just be yourself and keep your eyes open and you can make a difference I think. Yes, hopefully! Its quite difficult because they do actually encourage you to actually, you know, being a team as a whole, stay social together as well, but people have different interests like me, I dont actually. I prefer after work to sit in my room and read some books, thats my social life. And also really to go out with my close friends, have a meal and maybe watch a film together and I also have bible study all the time at weekends, during weekdays, and I then I think, found sometimes, maybe we have less in common, like me and my colleagues. But the expectations the firm has; I think its a written code of conduct, sort of. They probably prefer people doing things together so thats why I think its quite difficult for, shall I say, certain types of people.

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Appendix II: Second core narrative

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 my experience during the placement year came back to me because I remember while I was on placement I was working with the Chief Financial Advisor and obviously he was the accountant there as well. He was normally involved in so many things and I thought, because obviously I wanted to be an accountant, I thought, right, I want to be an accountant, I want to do what hes doing, cause he would organize meetings and he would, like, talk, to certain people about issues which had nothing to do with accounting, Well, I couldnt have seen ... I was thinking I want to be an accountant, but I dont want to manage people. Whereas, well, obviously, we looked at journals, recent journals about the stuff that accountants have to do now, it became more apparent to me as to why he was doing those things. That there isnt in fact just the role of a financial accountant at the moment, it has obviously evolved over time. And now an accountant might be required to do stuff that he was doing like managing people and managing time. Its looking at whats actually involved like stock provisions and what was ordered. A wider role than I would have thought of initially. So, I think, while I was there I was a bit confused but after Ive been doing the module some of those issues became more clearer to me in terms of why he maybe was doing such things. now Im more aware of the fact that you cant get away from these other little bits that you need to do as an accountant. Because of that I actually made a conscious effort to look at financial accounting in terms of ACA and ACCA because, obviously, I enjoy the number bits more and I try to make sure I dont go away too far from that side of accounting without obviously losing out on the fact that I will have to do these other things that Ive been exposed to but obviously Ive made more of a conscious effort to look for jobs where that numerical side or that financial accounting side is still in tact and that youll still be required to do those kinds of jobs . So yeah, maybe earlier on I probably would have just gone for any accounting jobs thinking it would all be the same, whereas now Im aware that there are other bits and I would be more inclined to look at in the financial sector.

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