Balancing acts in qualitative accounting research

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the motivation for this special issue and its contributions.

This paper is a conceptual editorial piece which discusses current methodological tendencies in qualitative accounting research.

The paper argues that qualitative research involves some balancing acts between, on the one hand, pragmatic and aesthetic aspects and, on the other, the necessary steps for establishing trust in a particular piece of research. The authors explicate how this is manifest in the contributions to this special issue.

This paper highlights the need for greater attention to the many pragmatic aspects associated with qualitative accounting research rarely accounted for in previous texts on the topic.