Abstract

What do we understand by the visual in relation to accounting? Why is it important? Accountants and non-accountants are sometimes perplexed as to what is meant by the relationship between accounting and the visual, for surely accounting is all about numbers? The technicalities of accounting numbers and their impact on users have received strong attention from regulators, practitioners and researchers. Yet linguistic and visual media are just as important in communicating issues relevant to accounting. Narratives have come to constitute a significant part of regulatory and voluntary financial reporting, and research on accounting narratives is well established. The visual is similarly significant, but until recently has been neglected in accounting communication research.