Constructing Meaning in Accounting: Towards a Multimodal Perspective

Abstract

This book invites readers to rethink accounting as a multimodal practice. Engaging with key studies in the accounting literature, it explores the use of numerical, visual, verbal, and spatial modes in constructing and communicating accounting meanings. At the same time, it uncovers the underexplored interplay among these modes, with attention typically focused on the interaction between only a few specific and more conventional modes, such as numbers and visuals, or numbers and text, leaving broader multimodal dynamics largely unaddressed. Drawing on multimodality research from adjacent disciplines, the book presents a theoretical reflection on the need to move away from monomodal and toward multimodal perspectives in accounting research. It ultimately calls for a shift in the research agenda, positioning multimodality as essential to understanding the rhetorical and performative dimensions of accounting in today’s digitally mediated, communication-rich environments.