Accounting for Humanity

Last week I took some time out of some all-consuming writing (also why there was no post last week) to take part in the first of a new series of Research Roundtable sessions (follow the link to find out more should accounting research discussions be your forte).

The first session looked at ‘Broadening the boundaries of accounting: a call for interdisciplinarity in the calculative era’ by Erin Twyford and Roba Abbas, a paper discussing interdisciplinary research in accounting. Both the paper and the preceding discussions unearthed some fascinating areas for future research and reflection but for myself, two main questions peaked my pondering; “What is interdisciplinary Research?” and “What is Accounting?”

What is interdisciplinary Research?

Thinking of the immediate/general response/definition; we would call interdisciplinary the spanning of two or more individual disciplines; but, what does this actually mean? Must we have knowledge of all the disciplines, must we include expertise from each discipline or is the merging of various facets of multiple disciplines? In our discussion all of the above occurred and perhaps none were incorrect. For myself, interdisciplinary is a type of nomadic research, truly the interdisciplinary researcher is an explorer, they are a mind unbound, there are no borders, no home, no end, only the thought of what lies beyond. This is not a simple path as, the previous highlights, the nomad belongs everywhere and nowhere, it is a DNA comprised of portions from a worldly discipline, dare I say, the if Tim Burton characters were researchers, they would be interdisciplinary researchers.

While a sense of belonging is difficult, it is there comfort found among fellow research oddities, a family of those who enjoy floating among the shifting tides of knowledge, where washing ashore on one island is never enough, not when there are other shores out there. Does this answer the question though or, does this simply tell us who might become an interdisciplinary researcher?

An Image from my Post-Grad Architecture project: “The Pain of Waiting” the actual final drawings were hand-shaded (if I find them I’ll share them should my perceived artistic prowess at the time be accurate in the present time)

I have always considered myself an ‘oddball’, I have never found comfort in the thought of confinement. Though strangely I am by no means a physical traveller (I am limited in my physical travels), my mind has never favoured the idea of being ‘stuck’ in one place, I have always wanted to know how everything in this world connects to one another. In studying architecture, my dissertation and final year projects considered the overlap in fashion, health and architecture. I wanted to understand the impact of architecture at monolithic and individual human-scale, we are living architecture, structures composed of structure and cladding, and I wanted to understand how society interprets, embraces and manipulates this relationship. For many the question would become “is this architecture?” but, what is architecture?

An Image from my Post-Grad Architecture project: “The Pain of Waiting” (and my lovely fingers)

What is Accounting?

This second question generates quite a degree of nostalgia. a I’ll always remember my very first architecture lecture when we were presented with the question “what is architecture?”

As noted above, there is of course, the general response/definition of architecture (it is buildings etc) but the purpose of this question is about installing critical thought. If architecture were simply just “buildings” then the term architecture need not exist. Thus, architecture is more than its definition, it is how you perceive the act of architecture.

For myself, the same can be said of accounting. Again when the question was asked in our discussion, there was a general definition to refer to however, my mind came alight with the same wonder the architecture question did some 20 years prior (then I also realised that it was 20 years ago, which was unsettling). Accounting is more than its simplistic description; accounting is calculation, accounting is accountability, accounting is organisation, accounting is understanding the world around you. Furthermore, it is not just about finances. Before the world had an accounting profession, accountability was to the Gods, to the King, to the emperor, to the community, accounting was (and is) an order of life itself.

Interestingly this brings us full circle, if accounting can be an order of our world, then must we not understand all aspects of our world? Should we not know the workings of all environments, societies, and disciplines we operate within to be able to “take account” of them?

Perhaps accounting is one of life’s truly interdisciplinary fields, a marvellous group of oddballs forever in search of new knowledge and a place to call home…

An Image from my Post-Grad Architecture project: “The Pain of Waiting”