Chapter 12: Exploring the Spaces in Between Professional Accounting Practice and Academia: What Could a Transdisciplinary Approach Offer Diversity in Accounting?

My creative writing journey began in my childhood. I enjoyed writing stories and always wrote them following the traditional structured form, ‘once upon a time…’. These stories were about princesses, fairies and witches, and they centred on the general idea of good winning over evil. I noticed very early on at school that the ability to write and express oneself through this form of communication was an advantage and the only way that I could achieve a competitive advantage over others in my class. I was one of a few ethnic background children out of a class of 30. I could see from a very early age that the ‘white’ children were favoured. I was something in between. Not totally white, not having the ability to converse in a fluent manner meant that I was at the back of the queue with regards to getting the teacher's attention. Although my writing abilities improved over time, my competitive advantage lay in my ability to handle numbers. Through school, I excelled in understanding ‘numbers’ and I observed that they could be manipulated. I sat my Maths exam three years early.