Transforming identities: accounting professionals and the transition to motherhood

This paper investigates the experience of motherhood and employment within the UK accounting profession by examining the oral history narratives of a small group of accountants who have recently become mothers and returned to work, thereby undertaking a process of redefinition and transformation of the self. Drawing from contemporary theories on identity, it considers how individuals make sense of the different social identities, which they take on over their life course, and to what extent social, institutional and cultural factors shape and restrict the ways in which the self is experienced. The paper extends the use of oral history methods in accounting research, arguing for the use of narrative to conceptualise identity formation, and also explores the implications for both the self and the accounting profession of interconnections and juxtapositions between the ostensibly private sphere of the home and the public sphere of employment.