Literature and insights

Citation

Evans, S. (2005), "Literature and insights", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 18 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj.2005.05918cae.001

Literature and insights

Dear reader, as authors used to write, I want a word in your ear. Is the Literature and insights section of this publication an oasis in the world of accounting papers? However entertaining and provocative the papers elsewhere in this esteemed journal, I like to think that you welcome the difference that the creative works in Literature and insights offer. Yet, here is a paradox of sorts – the poems and stories here come from the minds of people just like the authors of those other, more academic papers. Sometimes they ask the same questions. In my view, this just makes Literature and insights even better. It reminds us that our lives are not so easily hemmed into neat little boxes of “accountant” or “auditor”. There are other real, breathing and complex – we could even say difficult – categories that are more appropriate, if we could be satisfied with categorising at all. Sometimes the works that you encounter in this section of the journal will clearly reflect that sense of interconnectedness, and difficulty.

I have been privileged to run writing workshops with accountants and auditors and business managers who show an understanding of the wholeness of the world that would puzzle people used to assigning others to stereotypes. Recently, for example, my wife and I worked with staff in a major hospital to publish an anthology of creative writing related to their work experiences. It meant bringing together neurosurgeons, administrative workers, nurses and many others from the complicated organism that a modern hospital must be in order to function effectively. It was no surprise to us that they all had something in common. Looking at the contributions received for this section of the AAAJ reminds me of the rewarding possibilities of an interdisciplinary outlook.

How do we read the fruits of these labours? Maybe we read the academic papers expecting everything to be laid out in a precise and interlocking, logical progression. The creative pieces on which this particular section of the AAAJ are based were not written with that kind of interrogation in mind. As the former US poet laureate, Billy Collins, once noted, too many people think that “a poem is something you tie to a chair and beat the meaning out of”. I would prefer that the pieces you read here stick in your mind and ask nagging questions for which you cannot find immediate answers.

I would also prefer that the statements of purpose and design and findings, etc. that you now see preceding each creative piece could be placed at the end of the work rather than at the beginning, so that you could make up your own mind about such things before being told. Maybe a contributor will, one day, submit a poem that mimics that specific presentation of information, so we will have trouble telling when the voice of bureaucracy ends and the real creative voice begins. Will you be the one to try? While you ponder that opportunity, let me introduce you to this issue’s offerings, both of which pose deep questions.

What is wealth? Patricia Irvine’s “The first poem of the financial year” ends with a poignant picture. Its delicious series of similes is underlined with a sombre reminder of social divides, reminding us of the contrasts of haves and have-nots in all societies. Whenever we may begin or end our accounting cycles, it’s worth remembering how dependent are some peoples’ lives on the great financial wheel.

Caroline Ramsey, too, thought of wealth and how we account for it. In her poem, “Guadalajara”, she alludes to the American poet, John Ashbery, whose work seemed to fluctuate between the deeply personal and the more broadly understood. She also ponders the way that we decide on measures. Her poem poses the question as to whether we can find a language that is sufficiently persuasive to “help build organisations going forward, a language of maybes rather than actuals”. Language is in such flux (just listen to your closest teenager!) that this ongoing task may seem quite perilous. Yet, tentativeness is sometimes all we have.

Please remember that your own contributions to Literature and insights are most welcome!

Steve EvansLiterary Editor