Colonialismo en Camuflaje PDF

Critical Perspectives on Accounting 35 (2016) 58–75
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Critical Perspectives on Accounting

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cpa
Colonials in Camouflage: Metonymy, mimicry and the

reproduction of the colonial order in the age of diversity
Kelly Thomson *, Joanne Jones
School of Administrative Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article history: In this study we examine the narratives of international accountants migrating to Canada.
Available online 7 May 2015 We draw on [5_TD$IF]postcolonial theory to theorize the mechanisms through which professionals
are ‘‘othered’’ as they come to Canada and how, through mimicry some are[6_TD$IF] able to gain
Palabras clave: recognition as professionals in the Canadian field. Our findings illustrate the barriers
Firmas de contabilidad experienced by non-white, non-male, non-[7_TD$IF]Western professionals despite the discourse of
Raza diversity that pervades the profession. Using semiotic analysis we show how metonyms
Social
are used by professionals in the field to construct an archetype of the Canadian
diversidad
Professional Accountant against which ‘‘foreign’’ professionals are implicitly assessed. Our
igualdad
findings illustrate how some international professionals use metonymy to [8_TD$IF]overcome these
Keywords: barriers and reclaim their professional identity in Canada.
Postcolonial theory ß 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Migration
Professional identity
Semiotics
Goffman
Agency
Mots clés:
Cabinets comptables
Race
Social
diversité
égalité
1. Introduction
Accounting scholars have been in the forefront of documenting the role colonial and gender structures play in producing
and reproducing a racialized and gendered hierarchy of career outcomes for accountants in countries around the globe
(Ashcraft, 2013). This empirical work has illustrated how these structures have manifested in the form of seemingly
‘‘objective’’ criteria such as rules that govern access to professional credentials as well as more subtle idealized images of
accountants that have served to exclude women and non-whites or relegated them to less desirable positions in the
profession (Annisette and Trivedi, 2013; Annisette, 2003; Grey, 1998; Hammond, Clayton, [9_TD$IF]and Arnold, 2009; Kim, 2004;
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: thomsonk@yorku.ca (K. Thomson), jcjones@yorku.ca (J. Jones).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2015.05.001
1045-2354/ß 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K. Thomson, J. Jones / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 35 (2016) 58–75 59
Kirkham and Loft, 1993; Poullaos, 2009; Sian, 2011). Drawing on Goffman’s work, scholars have shown how marginalized
actors’ everyday use of language, dress and conduct makes them seem ‘‘different’’ and less professional than the racialized
and gendered ideal (Anderson-Gough[10_TD$IF], [1_TD$IF]Grey, [12_TD$IF]and Robson, 2005; Lupu, 2012). As Kyriakidou, Dedoulis, Kyriacou, and Özbiligin
(2013) note, while scholars have argued that this process of implicit comparison of marginalized actors to a white, male,
heterosexual, able-bodied ideal worker may account for patterns of exclusion and segregation, the process itself has received
relatively little attention.
While the patterns of exclusion and segregation have been replicated in many contexts, recent studies have also shown
that marginalized actors do not passively accept their inferior positions. Al Ariss, Vassilopoulou, Game, and Özbilgin (2013),
for example, used the concept of relational agency to illustrate how highly skilled migrants from marginalized ethnic groups
exerted agency to re-establish their careers; however, their study also showed how societal contexts limited and shaped
actors’ latitude to act. Similarly, Pio and Essers ([13_TD$IF]2013) used a transnational feminist lens to understand how professional
Indian women ‘‘embraced their ethnicity and gender’’ to ‘‘decenter otherness’’ and to negotiate new identities in their
adopted country. [14_TD$IF]Srinivas (2013) analyzed the autobiography of the first Indian Chief Executive of Lever Brothers in India to
understand how the stigmatizing gaze of the colonizer shaped how one man constructed his identity as a professional
manager, iteratively, over time. Finally, Slay and Smith (2010) also analyzed autobiographical accounts to show how African
American journalists constructed their racial identity as both a challenge and an asset to their careers. Together, these
studies show how marginalized actors exert agency in constructing their professional identities but also how the range of
alternatives selves particular actors can claim is limited by professional and societal discourses in a given context.
In this paper we argue that to fully appreciate the way in which images of the ‘‘ideal accountant’’ affect actors we must
understand the more nuanced ways in which context and identities intersect to affect the range of professional selves that a
particular actor can effectively embody in their interactions with audiences. While the implicit colonial character of the ideal
accountant systematically disadvantages particular categories of accountants, our analysis highlights that accountants who
may share a socially constructed identity of ‘‘others’’ experience and construct their professional identities in a variety of ways
that reflect not just the impact of these intersecting identities but also their distinctive interpretations of the context as well as
their unique preferences. We draw on the stories of accountants migrating to Canada as well as interviews with employers and
archival materials to illustrate the ways in which colonial structures have been hybridized to produce the racialized and
gendered context that ‘‘others’’, i.e. non-white, non-male, non-Western accountants experience in coming to Canada.
We draw on post-colonial theory to explore the question: how does a professional’s embodied position in the colonial
discourse relate to their experience of ‘‘othering’’ as they migrate in the global accounting profession? Using performative
theories of identity, we also examine how colonial structures interpellate the tactics particular actors use to transform their
professional performances. Specifically, we draw upon Goffman’s (1959) work on performance and identity and Bhabha’s
(1994) concept of mimicry to illustrate how migrant accountants adapt the way they embody and express their professional
identity to counter the scepticism of Canadian audiences. At the same time we show how colonial structures within the
Canadian accounting profession place limits on agency by restricting the range of alternative selves a given body can
legitimately express.
Our analysis contributes to the recent literature that moves beyond essentialist notions of identity to understand the
relational ways in which structure and agency shape subjectivities. Specifically, this analysis adds to our understanding of
how and why career outcomes for migrant accountants mirror the colonial hierarchy, despite the rhetoric of global
opportunity and respect for diversity. By comparing and contrasting the experiences of migrant accountants with a range of
embodied identities and differing positions in the colonial hierarchy we are able to explore how structures intersect and
impinge on bodies in specific ways that act as both limits on and resources for agentic action.
We begin by briefly outlining how we combine postcolonial and performative theories to generate a nuanced
understanding of how migrant accountants transition their professional identities across borders. We then outline our
methods, highlighting the value of a semiotic approach in analyzing the subtle ways in which colonial structures shape the
discursive and embodied expressions of professional identity. We then present our findings and theorize how migrant
accountants’ and Canadian employers’ discursive and embodied expressions of the ideal Canadian accountant are
interpellated with colonial structures that shape which professionals encounter easy acceptance and which actors encounter
scepticism and resistance. We conclude by discussing how our analysis of the nuanced ways in which structures of
inequality are expressed in a given context suggests how all stakeholders can exercise agency in creating a more equal global
context for migrant accountants.
2. Mimicry and performing the Canadian professional accountant
2.1. Performing professional identity
Goffman theorized how identities are constructed in social interactions as actors claim their social position through the
embodied expression of a ‘‘pattern of appropriate conduct, coherent, embellished and well-articulated . . . it is something . . .
that must be realized’’ ([15_TD$IF]1959, p. 75). He identifies several factors that are necessary for an actor to ‘‘realize’’ his identity in
interactions: first, the actor needs information ‘‘concerning his fellow participants’’ (Goffman, 1959, p. 10), second, the actor
must ‘‘rely on signs in order to construct an impression’’, third, in order to present a coherent front, the actor’s appearance
and manner must be consistent and lastly, the performance must appear ‘‘unwitting’’ and effortless.
60 K. Thomson, J. Jones / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 35 (2016) 58–75
As Goffman notes, making a claim to a professional identity is ‘‘sacred’’ and it is expected that only actors with the correct
social characteristics have the moral right to make this claim; ‘‘an individual who implicitly or explicitly signifies that he has
certain social characteristics ought in fact to be what he claims to be’’ (1959, p. 13). Expressing claims to a professional
identity requires an actor to ‘‘give expression to ideal standards during his performance’’. Goffman suggests that actors
accomplish this by ‘‘concealing or underplaying those activities, facts and motives which are incompatible with an idealized
version of himself’’ (1959, p. 48).
Social fronts are ‘‘selected not created’’ and a ‘‘given social front tends to become institutionalized in terms of the abstract
stereotyped expectation . . . the front becomes a collective representation and a fact, in its own right’’ so that if ‘‘acquisition of
the role was primarily motivated by a given task or by the desire to maintain the corresponding front, the actor will find that
he must do both.’’ (Goffman, 1959, p. 27). By implication then, if an accountant migrating to Canada seeks to claim his
professional identity in Canada, he must also be able to assume ‘‘the corresponding front’’. One’s race or gender are examples
of social characteristics that may shape a given actors’ capacity to realize their claim to a particular identity. Goffman
highlights this connection using the example of medicine: ‘‘medical schools in America tend to recruit their students
primarily on the basis of ethnic origin . . . but in the actual interaction between the doctor and patient the impression is
allowed to develop that the doctor is a doctor purely because of special aptitudes and special training’’ (1959, p. 47).
Central to the realization of an actor’s claim to a particular identity is convincing the audience, who if ‘‘known to be
secretly skeptical of the reality that is being impressed upon them . . . [have] a tendency to pounce on trifling flaws as a sign
that the whole show is false’’ possibly resulting in a general questioning of whether the actor had the right to play the part at
all and a conclusion that the actor may be ‘‘at fault in other ways’’ (Goffman, 1959, p. 59). Goffman specifically touches on the
challenges faced by immigrants: ‘‘it is felt to be all right for immigrants to impersonate native Americans in dress and in
patterns of decorum but it is still a doubtful matter to Americanize one’s name or one’s nose’’ (1959, p. 61).
Goffman’s theorization of how claims to professional identity are made and realized in interactions between the
performer and audience offers an excellent general framework for addressing the central questions that we set out to
examine in this study1; however, while Goffman recognizes how embodiment of particular social characteristics, such as
race and gender, may facilitate or impede an actor’s capacity to realize an identity, he does not situate patterns of unequal
access to social fronts within relations of power. We therefore draw on the work of Bhabha (1994, p. 112), who similarly
emphasizes the performance of identity but highlights that the colonial hierarchy is ‘‘common knowledge’’, information that
actors bring to each interaction and therefore, those from the colonial margins inevitably face scepticism in encounters with
those from the colonial centre.
2.2. Performance in postcolonial theory
Bhabha offers several crucial insights that are directly relevant to understanding how the process of implicit comparison
of marginalized actors to a white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied ideal worker may account for patterns of exclusion and
segregation by specifying the colonial sources of the ideal identity. Of particular importance to the analysis in this paper are
the concepts of ‘‘othering‘‘, mimicry and third space. Bhabha (1994) uses the term mimicry to refer to the form of
performance that those from the colonial margins use to construct their identity in reference to the colonial archetype and
the term ‘‘othering’’ to refer to the process by which [16_TD$IF]sceptical colonizers assess the performances of those from the colonial
margins, highlighting the ways in which the mimic differs from the ideal. Postcolonial theorists, and Bhabha in particular,
highlight how the social characteristics of the social fronts institutionalized as the ‘‘ideal’’ in the global context reflect the
characteristics of the colonizer, i.e. white, males who perform their identities using signs derived from British cultural
traditions of class, race and gender. Those from the colonial margins, therefore, may mimic this identity; however, they can
never measure up to this ideal and their performances will inevitably be found wanting. As Bhabha has succinctly
articulated: ‘‘not quite/not white’’ (1994, p. 131).
While Bhabha emphasizes the production and reproduction of inequality in colonial encounters, by assuming a
performative rather than essentialist view of identity, he suggests that all participants in a social interaction may negotiate
their identities in ways that may differ from normative institutionalized relations. As Goffman suggests, the consensus
regarding identities in any given interaction is not pre-determined but negotiated. Similarly, Bhabha uses the term ‘‘third
space’’ to suggest that these social interactions are distinct moments that are in some sense isolated from ‘‘what is going on’’.
While Goffman and Bhabha agree that participants are informed by the ‘‘common knowledge’’ each actor brings to the
interaction, the working consensus regarding respective identities will reflect the performers’ and audiences’ preferences for
strict conformity to institutionalized patterns or their willingness to diverge from these patterns to explore alternatives.
Participants, in other words have agency. However, as Tatli and Özbilgin (2009) note, agency is relational and therefore an
actor’s power to act is limited to what is considered legitimate given their social locations.2
While performers may, through mimicry, use agency to effect dramatic transformations of their ‘‘difference’’ from the
ideal into similarity, this transformation must not disturb the naturalness of the performance. ‘‘Others’’ may mimic using
tactics, such as foregrounding particular aspects of their professional identity, innuendo, strategic ambiguity and/or
1
We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.
2
We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.
omissions, to tell ‘‘white lies,’’ that subtly erase their ‘‘different’’ social identity and in so doing, evade mechanisms of social
closure. As both Goffman and Bhabha suggest, the performer and the other participants must evaluate each other and arrive
at conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the identity claims through a very subtle exchange of signs that will avoid
any explicit reference to what is ‘‘really’’ occurring. Bhabha uses the term third space to refer to the way in which this
negotiation is both visible and invisible: ‘‘the visibility of mimicry is always produced at the site of interdiction. It is a form of
colonial discourse that is uttered inter dicta: a discourse at the crossroads of what is known and permissible and that which
though known must be kept concealed’’ (1994, p. 128).
Taken together, Goffman and Bhabha offer a framework for approaching the specific questions we pose. This framework
sensitizes us to the ways in which the colonial hierarchy may translate into patterns of exclusion and segregation and the
mechanisms through which the performances of actors migrating from the periphery to a colonial centre may be challenged or
facilitated. It highlights the importance of the information the participants bring to the interaction and how the colonial
foundations of [7_TD$IF]Western culture and the Canadian accounting profession may be implicitly present, influencing who is
presumed to have the requisite social characteristics to legitimately claim the institutionalized social front associated with
Canadian Professional Accountant. Both Goffman and Bhabha alert us to the role [16_TD$IF]sceptical [7_TD$IF]Western audiences may play in
‘‘pouncing’’ on the flaws in the performances of those from the colonial margins, and sensitizing us to how the patterns of
‘‘othering’’ may reflect embodied differences from the colonial ideal. This framework therefore, suggests a research design that
gives close attention to the subtle ways in which identities are negotiated and particularly to the signs used by participants.
We now turn to a brief overview of the specific context of the Canadian accounting profession which will highlight the
signs that are culturally relevant and familiar to audiences. We then describe how we use a semiotic approach to analyze the
use of signs by both migrants and employers in the Canadian context to generate our findings.
3. Research context
3.1. Migrant accountants and the Canadian accounting profession
In order to appreciate how migrant accountants transition their professional identities across borders, we must
understand the history of Canadian immigration and the context of[17_TD$IF] the accounting profession in Canada. Canada was
originally formed by settlers arriving from Britain and France and, with the highest level of immigration in the world,
continues to rely on immigration for population growth (Reitz, 2012). Until the 1970s, Canada’s non-aboriginal citizens were
mainly of European background. However, since then, Canada’s population has dramatically changed. Until 1962, Canada
limited immigration to those of European background; however, in line with Canada’s stated ambition of creating a
multicultural society this requirement was then removed. The removal of this requirement resulted in significant change to
Canada’s ethnic make-up. For instance, Canada’s top two immigration cities, Toronto and Vancouver, which in the 1970s had
populations dominated by those with European heritage are projected by 2017, to have populations with a majority of
citizens of non-Europeans origins ([1_TD$IF]Bélanger and Caron Malenfant, 2005, Reitz, 2012). According to Reitz (2012), whatever
the impact of policies such as mutliculturalism in paving the way towards social integration of immigrants, they appear to
have worked less well for racial minorities than for white immigrant groups. In 1967, Canada introduced a point-based
system that attempted to select immigrants seen as most likely to add to Canada’s economic growth (Bouchard, 2007).
Canada is now the world’s number one destination for immigrants (Bouchard, 2007).
While skilled immigrants are a growing proportion of the Canadian workforce, their success in gaining access to
professional occupations has declined over time (Reitz, Curtis, [9_TD$IF]and Elrick, 2014). For example, only 9% of young migrant
accountants from ‘‘non-elite’’ source countries were employed in their profession within five years of arrival (Hawthorne,
2007). In comparison to ‘‘the catastrophic levels of labour market rejection’’ experienced by those from non-elite countries,
professionals from ‘‘elite’’ countries (UK/Ireland, USA, South Africa, Australia/New Zealand, and Western Europe) have
outcomes comparable to those born in Canada (Hawthorne, 2007, p. 145). Reasons given for underemployment of skilled
migrants include lack of Canadian work experience, lack of recognition of foreign experience or credentials, and language
(Statistics and Canada, 2005).
The accounting profession reflects Canada’s colonial roots and interestingly, male immigrants from Great Britain and
Ireland were favoured over men born in Canada until early in the twentieth century (Edwards and Walker, 2008). Through
formal and informal social closure based on ethnicity, gender, and religion, this dominance of white males of European
heritage has continued to the present (Annisette and Trivedi, 2013; McKeen and Richardson, 1998; Richardson, 1989, 2010).
Recently, governments have implemented policies to attempt to address barriers to entering regulated professions including
the creation of Fairness Commissioners who monitor the assessment of foreign qualifications and a recent ruling that
acknowledges that requiring Canadian experience is discriminatory and violates the Ontario Human Right Code (Ontario
Human Rights Commission, 2013). Canada’s accounting bodies have agreements recognizing the credentials of other
national accounting bodies (MRAs), however, these have historically been with elite source countries and they effectively
exclude the majority of migrant accountants3 (Annisette and Trivedi, 2013; Iredale, 2001). The Big 4 firms extensively
3
The top source countries for migrant accountants are China, India, Pakistan, and Philippines (Ontario Fairness Commission[2_TD$IF], 2013a,b,c). This is consistent
with the overall makeup of Canada’s skilled immigrant population (Hawthorne, 2007).
promote their commitment to diversity, highlighting practices such as the creation of affinity networks, mentoring
programmes, and positions with titles such as Diversity Officer and Inclusiveness Leader (Lorinc, 2010; Stefenac, 2012).
Despite these efforts, firm leadership has always been dominated by[1_TD$IF] white men of European background (Lorinc, 2010;
Stefenac, 2012).
This overview provides some insight into the societal-cultural context of the accounting profession in Canada and
suggests the gendered and racialized social characteristics of the identity of professional accountants institutionalized in
Canada has remained virtually unchanged for over one hundred years and this dominance of white men of European heritage
in Canada reflects the same pattern found in countries around the world (Annisette and Trivedi, 2013; Hammond et al., 2009;
Poullaos, 2009).
4. Methodology
4.1. Our data
In this study we analyze interviews with 18 accountants who migrated to Canada from 11 different countries and
8 human resource and diversity professionals from the top employers for accountants in Canada. The resulting data set,
while not numerically large, is significant as it includes very rich accounts from a relatively large number of migrants who
have been successful in Canada. In addition, while the number of employers interviewed is small, these employers represent
a large proportion of the firms that hire accounting professionals, including three of the Big 4 firms and the two largest of the
twenty top financial services firms in Canada. We supplemented our inductive analysis of the qualitative interviews with
archival material we assembled from public sources such as the professional institutes’ websites and journals, business
press, and the web-sites of the top firms.
We identified accountants trained outside Canada and who were successful in continuing their accounting career in
Canada using our own professional networks, reviews of the websites of[1_TD$IF] Ontario’s 3 professional institutes and major
employers. We strategically selected those firms recognized as ‘Top Employers for Newcomers to Canada’ and who were
major employers of accountants (see Table 1 for details of how participants were recruited).4
We focused on ‘‘successful’’ professionals as there already exist many studies of exclusion of foreign professionals in
Canada, yet very few, if any, of those professionals who have successfully re-established their careers. Our criterion for
‘‘success’’ was that the accountants were employed in positions using their professional accounting skills. This strategy
generated a sample of accountants from a wide variety of demographic and professional backgrounds (see Table 2).
Our interviews were semi-structured. We asked the migrant accountants to describe their professional education and
experience prior to coming to Canada, their decision to migrate to Canada and their experience in Canada. All interviews
were recorded with formal written consent of the participants and demographic details have been disguised to protect their
identities consistent with these agreements. Interviews ranged from 45 to 300 min with the average over 100 min. The
accountants gave detailed stories of their personal and professional journey and their reflections on that journey. Interviews
with the diversity and human resource professionals focused on why and how they recruited accountants new to Canada as
well as their recruitment, retention, and diversity practices.
4.2. A semiotic approach
Our analysis uses a semiotic approach (Barley, 1983) to explore the migrant accountants’ narratives and how they
described their transition into the profession in Canada. Similarly, we analyze the descriptions by key employers and
representations from the profession itself to develop an appreciation of the ‘‘ideal’’ Canadian professional accountant and
how non-Canadians are constructed in relation to this ideal. A semiotic approach is a useful technique to examine how a
system of meaning is created through the interaction between people and the message (Barley, 1983; Bernstein, 1964; Fiske,
1990). The aim of the analysis is to unearth ‘‘the system of meaning common to members of a culture.’’ This system ‘‘consists
of both signs and rules or conventions that determine how these signs are used and how they are combined to form complex
messages’’ (Fiske, 1990, p. 19). From this perspective, meaning and identity are created through a play of difference (Barthes,
1977). In essence, people understand who they are by knowing who they are not. Given the binary oppositions that underlie
the processes of ‘‘othering’’ and mimicry, and that mimicry is a metonymic representation of the colonial archetype (Bhabha,
1994), a semiotic analysis is particularly useful in exposing the archetype and tactics used in performing identity in
otherwise seemingly natural representations and interactions (Barthes, 1977). It also enables an analysis of the subtle and
complex meanings that the participants conveyed in their accounts of their experiences.
The process of analysis proceeded in three main steps. Our first step was to examine the transcripts to identify those who
gained ready acceptance and those who experienced challenges. This first stage of analysis suggested a pattern of
stratification by country of origin. Accountants from colonial inferiors or from countries without any links to the British
Empire (e.g. Communist countries such as China) experienced significant pressure to change or to mimic in order to fit
4
We approached 3 additional participants who agreed to interviews, however, scheduling problems prevented 2 interviews from occurring and
1 interview was excluded from the analysis as we discovered the accountant had completed his accounting education in Canada.
Table 1
Recruitment details.
Recruitment sources Migrant accountants Human resource & diversity professionalsa
Researchers’ professional networks 6 1

Web searches 3 7
Referrals from provincial accounting bodies 4 N/A
Referrals from other informants 5 N/A
Total 18 8
a
Six interviews were conducted; at one interview, 3 firm representatives participated and in another interview, 2 Firm representatives participated.
whereas those from countries seen as colonial superiors or equals5 reported far less pressure. A closer analysis also revealed
that those who embodied difference from the archetype experienced considerable pressure to change their professional
performances – to ‘‘improve’’ their language skills, dress, ways of interacting with clients and colleagues.
The second step in our analysis compared the employer accounts to the ‘‘foreign’’ accountants to appreciate what
constituted an acceptable ‘‘foreign’’ accountant and which aspects of professional identities required ‘‘change’’. In order to
appreciate the way in which professional performances are structured by the archetype, we turned to semiotics, which
provides the tools for a very nuanced analysis of the system of meaning within a given speech community.
In the third step we conducted a close semiotic analysis of the narratives of both the employers and accountants to
uncover the process by which some migrants are selected and others rejected. In analyzing the accountants’ narratives, we
compared those readily admitted to the Canadian profession to those who experienced more barriers and pressure to
change. Using line-by-line coding we explored how Canadian diversity and human resource professionals described the
proper way to be a Canadian professional accountant. We identified the underlying logic (connotation) as well as signs that
were used to express or signify the message (denotation). We found that metonyms were an important mode for expressing
the sign by both human resource professionals and migrant accountants. Metonyms, through lingustic substitution
processes based on contiguity, or relations of similarity, convey the cultural meaning of Canadian Professional Accountant
without explicitly referencing social identity (Agar, 1994; Lakoff and Johnson, 1980).
We also conducted line-by-line coding of the accountants’ narratives to identify how they sought to signify Canadian
professional accountant and cross from unfamiliar/foreign to familiar in the oppositional structure of the discourse. We
focused closely on how they described their ‘‘difference’’ (being ‘‘the other’’) as well as their interactions with Canadian
professionals, attempting to interpret the meanings and social structures implicit in these accounts. We also critically
analyzed their descriptions of ‘‘successful’’ encounters, where they received positive feedback as well as more holistically
analyzing the narratives they included in their accounts and the underlying messages conveyed. Finally, we consulted our
research journals, which included details of each interview, email exchanges prior to the interview and specifics of the
accountants’ presentation in the interview such as dress, manner etc. This analysis allowed us to isolate a range of metonyms
and embodied expressions that participants use to signify Canadian accounting professional; i.e., how they ‘‘metonymize’’
themselves (Spivak, 2005). In the next section we present our findings beginning with the Canadian colonial hybrid
archetype and then describe how different migrant accountants cite this archetype in their professional performances to
gain acceptance into the Canadian profession. We present a relatively detailed portrait of three professionals rather than
cross-sectional data as this enables us to illustrate the nuanced, longitudinal journey that the accountants described and to
more fully situate the individual in the context of historical, social relations that are specific to their identity in relation to the
profession’s colonial roots and in relation to Canada. Below, we present a very brief synopsis of their transition into Canada
(see Table 3) and proceed in the findings to provide a fuller portrait through their narratives. We selected the three specific
professionals as they each have achieved a high level of success in Canada and their narratives offer the widest range of
tactics used to mimic. In addition, their positions in colonial context differ in theoretically significant ways and enable us to
illustrate how professional and social identities are inter-twined, creating different experiences that reflect the specificity of
the process of comparing individual embodied actors to the ideal.
5. Camouflaging colonialism
In this section we show how those who share the social identity markers of the colonial archetypical accountant are
readily accepted into the Canadian profession while those whose social identities mark them as ‘‘others’’ must adjust their
professional performances to mimic this archetype. Consistent with Bhabha (1994), our semiotic analysis illustrates how
both Canadian gatekeepers and the migrant accountants camouflage references to the colonial archetype through use of
metonymy, which enables mimicry to occur while respecting professional sensibilities derived from diversity discourses.
Our findings show how the ‘‘natural’’ colonial hierarchy persists – white males of British heritage and accountants regarded
5
Colonial superiors include the countries that make up the United Kingdom while colonial equals include other former British colonies known as
‘‘settler’’ colonies or Dominions such as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. Colonial inferiors are those colonies with non-white, non-settler populations
(Annisette, 2003; Chua and Poullaos, [23_TD$IF]2002; Poullaos, 2009).
Table 2
Informant details – migrant accountants.
Characteristic Frequency Characteristic Frequency

a
Country of origin Designation(s) at arrival
India 4 ACCA 3
Pakistan 3 ACA (India) 3
South Africa 2 CA (Pakistan) 3
Philippines 1 CA (South Africa) 2
Mainland China 2 CA (Nigeria) 1
Britain 1 CIMA 1
Hong Kong 1 CRC (Brazil) 1
Brazil 1 CPA (Philippines) 1
Nigeria 1 CPA (US) 2
Moldova 1 N/Ab 4
Sri Lanka 1
Total 18 Total 21
Gender Ethno-racial backgroundc

Female 7 South Asian 9
Male 11 White 3
Chinese 3
Filipino 1
Black 2
Total 18 Total 18
Age at arrival Decade of arrival

20–29 4 1980–1989 2
30–39 12 1990–1999 3
40–49 2 2000–1909 13
18 18
Years pre-arrival experienced Years Canadian experienced

4–5 years 3 1–5 years 6
6–10 years 8 6–10 7
11–15 5 11–15 2
15–20 2 15–20 N/A
20 and over N/A 20 and over 3
18 18
e
Current position Canadian designation
Partner – Big 4 3 CA 3
Sr Audit Manager – Big 4 1 CMA 3
Audit Manager – Big 4 2 CGA 5
Tax Specialist – Big 4 1
Consultant/Self-Employed 1
Senior Manager – Industry 2
Corporate Controller – Industry 2
Manager – Industry 1
Manager – Not-for-Profit 2
Senior Analyst – Industry 2
Senior Analyst – Government 1
Total 18 Total 11
a
Two informants held multiple designations.
b
All four of the informants had accounting/economics/finance degrees and worked as professional accountants prior to immigrating to Canada. One
informant had completed part of the ACA (India) program and one had completed part of the Canadian CGA program, which is offered in China and the
Caribbean.
c
Ethno-racial background is based upon self-identification of heritage and Statistics Canada categories. The informants categorized as South Asian
indicated Indian, Pakistani, or Sri Lankan heritage, White indicated their Anglo, European, or Russian heritage, and Black indicated African heritage.
d
Experience refers to accounting experience only.
e
Not all of the informants obtained one of the three Canadian designations.
as colonial equals are readily accepted into elite positions while those from the colonial margins must engage in significant
identity work in order to construct their fit. We conclude by discussing how these processes of gatekeeping and mimicry
reproduce the colonial hierarchy of 19th century British Empire in Canada in the 21st century.
We summarize the archetype of Canadian Professional Accountant in Fig. [24_TD$IF]1, which is a metonymic chain modelled on
Barley (1983). This diagram summarizes the associated metonyms and embodied attributes as well as specific words and
phrases that create the oppositional signs of ‘‘Canadian Professional Accountant’’ and ‘‘Foreign Professional Accountant.’’ As
Table 3
Brief career history of professionals.
Professional Country of Arrival decade Career progression in Canada

origin experience
Brandt 5 years 2000–2009 Prior to immigrating, he was offered a position with a major Canadian public
Public Practice company through an incidental meeting with well-known Canadian CEO. This
(Big 4) and Industry position was one level down from his previous job in South Africa; however, he
recovered within one year and over six years progressed to a mid managerial
position. At time of interview, he was being recruited by a Big 4 firm.
Fortuna 5 years 1980–1989 Following several months of independent job search, she was able to secure a
Public Practice contract position with a Big 4 firm through a personal contact with an accountant
(Big 4 Affiliate) who had worked for the same firm in Toronto. This position was comparable to her
last position in her country of origin. She spent seven years with that firm and
progressed to senior manager. She moved to a comparable position in a public
company and over the course of several years held a number of positions in public
companies ultimately returning to the Big 4 firm she had initially worked for,
becoming a partner within a few years.
Badar 6 years 2000–2009 Prior to immigrating, he had telephone interviews with Big 4 firms in USA and
Public Practice Canada and was hired by the Canadian firm. This position was below his last
(Big 4) and Industry position prior to immigration. After working there for three years, without getting a
promotion, which was attributed to lack of Canadian designation, he connected
with Toronto headhunters and ended up with two job offers. He chose a managerial
position with a public company and was promoted to controller within a year. He
then moved on to another pubic company, where he holds the position of
Corporate Controller.
our [25_TD$IF]findings illustrate, the Canadian archetype does not exactly replicate a 19th century British accountant; instead, a hybrid
professional identity is produced by combining cultural components of 21st century Canada with key elements such as
gender and race that are retained from the colonial original. In semiotic terms, the diagram conveys ‘‘the metonymic order of
signs. . .the structure of the system and reflects the conventional (and therefore cultural) rules that can seem natural and
given’’ (Musson and Tietze, 2004, p. 1306).
From our semiotic analysis it became clear that the diversity and human resource professionals engage in an implicit
process of comparing migrant accountants to an ideal Canadian professional accountant. Further, while their descriptions
and the [26_TD$IF]migrants’ descriptions of the systemic barriers both appear to reference an archetypical ‘‘colonial man’’, neither
[(Fig._1)TD$IG]
makes explicit reference to markers of social identity. One of the HR professionals noted:
Fig. 1. Making the client comfortable.

‘‘. . . people are just petrified . . . Accent is one of those things that people are afraid to talk about. It’s like attire and there’s a
couple other things, well I don’t want to, I can’t talk to you about your dress’’.
5.1. The hybrid colonial-[27_TD$IF]Canadian accountant archetype
We contrasted the descriptions by human resource professionals to images drawn from the websites and journals of the
professional institutes and a well-known article from Canada’s national newspaper from 1965 (Moon, 1965), to assemble
an image of the archetypical Canadian professional accountant that has remained largely intact for over fifty years. Studies
of the origins of the Canadian profession indicate that this ideal dates back to before the profession was even formally
constituted in Canada and many of the signs for expressing this identity were evident even then (Edwards [9_TD$IF]and Walker,
2008; Richardson, [28_TD$IF]1989, 2010). These statements provide a succinct summary of the characteristics of the archetypical
Canadian professional accountant and how international accountants differ. As professionals from one of the key
employers describe their approach to selection, they provide a window into the binary structure of the discourse of
professional identity:
. . .if they are Indian CA, they should be able to step in and let’s do the investigation, let’s do our due diligence, make sure we
are comfortable with this so that we are going to be able to service our clients and our files in the same way that we would
expect a Canadian CA to do it.
This quote outlines the process of assessing foreign professionals against this archetype of Canadian CA and how by
closely inspecting and evaluating non-Canadian CAs, to look for differences, Canadians may be able to become comfortable
with the idea of sending the accountant to service clients. This framing of the professional field shows how the ‘‘collective
image’’ (Goffman, 1959) of the ideal accountant is expressed using the metonym Canadian CA, the highest status of the three
Canadian accounting credentials (Guo, 2012; Richardson [9_TD$IF]and Jones, 2007). As this quote illustrates, Indian CA does not
express the sign accountant to a Canadian audience – Indian CA is constructed as a separate category and is a metonym for
foreign. This process of investigating professionals from outside of Canada sets up an opposition between the imagined
Canadian CA and the foreign or ‘‘other’’ CA. To successfully claim this identity in the Canadian context then, one must learn
how to perform or appear as the Canadian CA of the collective imagination, i.e. to mimic.
In describing ‘‘us’’, one HR professional provides a succinct description of the ideal professional accountant:
. . . we work hard, we play hard and unfortunately there is a sect of the population that-not unfortunately but, it has to be
respected that you do not always have to go for a big boozer. Just like you don’t always have to go play golf.
. . . we’re mostly A type personalities, very aggressive, career focused.

As this quote illustrates, metonyms for expressing ‘‘us’’ i.e., Canadian accountant are words, actions or stories that show
how the accountant is autonomous, assertive, self-promoting, career-focused and has an interest in playing golf and hockey.
These expressions, while not explicitly stating that one needs to be a white male of British descent create a portrait of the
tastes, habits and style that is consistent with the ‘‘typical’’ Canadian man. While the term man or male is never used,
aggressive, autonomous etc. are metonyms that recur in the interviews and express the ideal that exists in the imagination of
those who are insiders in the professional community. While being quiet, humble, collaborative abstainers from alcohol with
interests outside of work is not denigrated, these characteristics are often associated with ‘‘the Oriental’’ as described by
postcolonial theorists (Bhabha, 1994; Said, 1978). Expressing one’s professional identity in this way is simply inconsistent
with the archetype and likely to make professionals who share this collective image uncomfortable.
A much cited description of professional accountants in Canada from fifty years earlier makes the gender and racial
characteristics of the archetype much more explicit. We’ve extracted points from a two-page newspaper article (Moon,
1965) that describes the typical professional accountant circa 1965 and the recruitment and selection process for the firm
that was widely seen as the ‘‘top firm’’ in Canada at the time.6
‘‘. . . Indeed to understand Clarkson Gordon is to understand a good deal about the Canadian Upper Class which also recruits
its members from those with Family, money, brains, superior education, a suitable style and a liking for the milieu. In both
cases, it takes a minimum of three characteristics to qualify for entrance. . . [the firm was] started by Thomas Clarkson, an
English immigrant . . ..[who] gave the firm the public image . . . his pinstriped suits, neat moustache and black rimmed glasses
. . . He looks the part perfectly. . . [Talent scouts recruiting articling students] insist on articulateness, hope for a high B
standing and watch closely for that little flush of rapport that means a Clarkson Gordon sort of chap’’.
This portrait of a ‘‘Clarkson Man’’ uses more explicit gendered and racialized imagery whereas the portrait from current
HR professionals reference these same characteristics through metonyms such as ‘‘playing golf’’ rather than direct references
to gender, race,[30_TD$IF] or class that were common in Canada fifty years ago. These two descriptions and the way the profession
6
Not only was it the top firm, it was also the oldest. Clarkson Gordon was founded[29_TD$IF] in 1864 by Thomas Clarkson, the first president of the Ontario Institute
of Chartered Accountants.
currently portrays itself in official websites shows that ‘‘the Clarkson Man’’ is still the professional image, particularly for
those in the top echelons of the profession.
In the article, Moon (1965) concludes that change in the profession began in the 1950s when the firm took on its first
Jewish student in training:
‘‘. . . a direct result of increasing competition for staff. Sheer ability began to count. It’s interesting to watch the percentage of
WASP [31_TD$IF]{[White Anglo Saxon Protestant] names drop year by year says one of the junior partners. There are all sorts of racial
backgrounds represented now. . . And they pose no problems with the client’’.
The 1960s appears to mark the transition to the ‘‘age of diversity.’’ While the commentator defines the archetype of a
professional accountant in Canada, he also argues that the profession has begun hiring men from a variety of racial
backgrounds, implying that the profession transitioned from selecting based on social identity to meritocratic principles
that include ‘‘sheer ability’’ thus creating the myth of the ‘‘disembodied professional’’ who can succeed on merit alone
(Ashcraft, 2013). While the 1965 professional portrait anticipates increasing diversity of racial backgrounds of the men
who will be accountants in Canada, the images and data from 2012 (the time of our last interview) suggest very little
has changed (CICA, 2012; Jeffrey, 2013). However, the explicit references to gender and race have disappeared from the
description, replaced, we argue, with metonyms that link the archetype from late 19th century Britain (Poullaos, 2009)
to the Canadian profession circa 1881, through 1965 and 2012. From a semiotic perspective, the connotation has
remained the same for more than a century while the means by which it is denoted alters and greater effort is made to
effect the ‘‘disappearing act’’ that links acceptance into the profession with the professional’s social identity (Ashcraft,
2013).
5.2. Performing the Canadian Professional [32_TD$IF]Accountant circa 2000
In this section we illustrate how migrant accountants performed ‘‘Canadian Professional Accountant’’. As Goffman
argued, realizing one’s professional identity in performance requires the presentation of a coherent social front.
Audiences assess the legitimacy of an actor’s claims based on the coherence of the social front they present. As Goffman
notes: ‘‘we often expect a confirming consistency between appearance and manner’’ but ‘‘of course, appearance and
manner may tend to contradict each other’’(1959, p. 24–25). Migrants’ performances demonstrate their understanding
of the colonial archetype with its intersecting signs and the diversity discourse, and how citing these signs in
professional performances will make clients (and peers) comfortable. They, like the human resource professionals, use
metonyms to highlight how they exemplify the archetypical attributes without direct reference to the colonial
archetype. Throughout their narratives, they express the sign professional accountant using words, anecdotes and
stories that signify how they are assertive, autonomous, hard-working and career focused, as a Canadian accountant
should be. Similarly, they use stories to illustrate how they are Western – they have been trained in and worked for Big
4 firms, have worked for multinational clients and organizations, and in Western countries. They provide specific
anecdotes of interactions with professional peers and clients and highlight how their performances have been
recognized by Westerners through job offers, performance reviews, and their selection for ‘‘interesting’’ client work. In
short, the migrants’ narratives illustrate how they mimic the Canadian Professional Accountant by metonymizing their
identity to signal their fit with the archetype. We also show how migrants expressed their professional identity using
embodied signs such as dress, tone of voice and gestures.
While our sample focuses exclusively on those who have been successful in re-establishing their professional identities in
Canada, these accountants also recount experiences of being ‘‘othered’’ and of failures to gain recognition. Our analysis
illustrates how the ‘‘othering’’ experiences reflect the process of comparison of the precise ways in which migrants’
intersecting embodied identities differ from the Canadian ideal. We find that while race is not mentioned, language and
accent are subtle ways in which those of inferior colonial origins are separated from those who speak ‘‘proper’’ English and
also happen to be racially more similar to the archetype. Similarly, while gender is not referenced, men from countries with
predominantly Muslim populations noted that they encountered questions about their ability to work with women in the
workplace or as superiors and received feedback that they were ‘‘too aggressive’’. The experiences of men and women from
countries in Asia also illustrate their divergence from the gendered professional archetype as they received guidance from
mentors to be more assertive and to speak up. These descriptions of ‘‘othering’’ illustrate how colonial structures interpellate
this process of implicit comparison and show how migrant accountants reflect on this ‘‘otherness’’ to appreciate how they
need to alter their bodies and comportment to present a more coherent social front and show Canadian audiences that their
claim to the identity of ‘‘professional accountant’’ is legitimate.
We begin with a white male from a British settler colony (South Africa) whose narrative reflects how embodiment of
many aspects of the archetype permits him to avoid the careful inspection that non-white accountants report. Instead, his
narrative uses metonymy to focus on distinguishing his professional identity from those accountants who perform the ‘‘dirty
work’’ in the profession – technical accounting or low level audit work (Kirkham and Loft, 1993; Morales and Lambert, 2013).
We contrast his narrative with those of a female from a country in Asia and a male from Pakistan who must invest
significantly more effort to align themselves with the archetype given they embody ‘‘the other’’. Comparison of these
narratives illustrate how actors with the right embodied identity are able to easily ‘‘pass’’ for Canadian Professional
Accountants while others must work much harder to camouflage their divergent social identities.
5.3. Being the archetype
Brandt is the only white male we interviewed and his difference was immediately apparent – both in how he
characterized his experience as unlike that of other immigrants as well as his actual experience of few official barriers (e.g.
immigration rules) and few challenges in gaining acceptance from peers and clients in Canada. Only after we analyzed the
data for the whole sample of professionals, did it become apparent how unique his experience was. One of the most
interesting aspects of his narrative is what is absent. As he embodies the key aspects of the archetype he spends very little
time signifying how he is white and male although he does use metonymy to signal what kind of ‘‘white’’ and what kind of
‘‘male’’ he is. These clarifications help him to more closely align his identity with the Canadian hybrid. We begin by showing
how Brandt describes his decision to come to Canada, his seamless integration into both the social and professional contexts
and then proceed to outline how he uses metonymy to position himself against the colonial-Canadian archetype as a white
male more suited to working directly with clients rather than performing technical work.
. . .when I decided it was time to leave [the non-professional job] and go back to real life, he [the CEO and founder of Company
X] asked if I wanted to come up to Toronto to meet people here and see if I wanted to work here. I had no other set plans, so I
figured why not? . . . I probably had it the easiest out of anyone you’re interviewing. I did nothing and it was done for me, so I
was extremely lucky. . .. All I had to do was submit the paperwork, sign where they told me to sign, and the rest was done for
me.
As this quote illustrates, Brandt was ‘‘taking a couple of years off’’ from his career, travelling the world and doing work
that was recreational rather than professional7. He was not actually looking for professional work or a move to Canada but
was instead invited to take a professional position by a very high profile member of the Canadian business community. In
specifying his non-professional job as an instructor of an extreme sport, he subtly claims his identity as the right type of male,
i.e. he is physically strong, interested in sport, willing to take risks. These expressions convey his intersectional social identity[3_TD$IF]
– he is masculine in the British colonial tradition and therefore, has a moral right to claim the professional identity of
accountant. He also subtly differentiates himself from ‘‘other’’ migrants who experience significant hardship, recognizing the
binary structure of the discourse of professional accountant in Canada.
As he describes his reason for staying in Canada, he signals that he is the Canadian kind of ‘‘white’’ – one who embraces
‘‘diversity’’.
My fiancé is [he specifies a non-white ethnic group]. And when her mother heard that she was dating a South African guy her
first question was, ‘‘Is he black?’’. . . You get this picture of deepest, darkest Africa. . . . they have a picture and they’re happy
with that picture.. . .to see that the medical system is first world and that there is actually internet there and . . .. it’s not
giraffes walking on the roads.
Brandt’s reference to his non-white fiancé allows him to clarify his racial identity without contravening the diversity
discourse. He highlights his awareness that members of the profession ‘‘get this picture’’ and are surprised by the
contrast between their stereotypic views, in this case of Africa, with meeting someone that diverges from this
stereotype or the ‘‘image they have in their heads’’. This statement indicates that accountants are aware of this implicit
process of comparison between their embodied performance and the ideal, and they also consider their professional
performances against these ‘‘images’’. While this process may be reflexive in some cases[34_TD$IF], it may be largely intuitive in
others.
In this case, Brandt uses this story to position himself as distinct from other citizens of Africa, he is not the same as those
from[1_TD$IF] ‘‘deepest, darkest, Africa’’, i.e. he is not black. He is also communicating important information about what he is; he is a
white man who has chosen to marry a non-white Canadian. The topic of race and the possibility that he may be intolerant of
racial diversity by virtue of his origin from South Africa, a country associated internationally with racial intolerance, is not
raised by the interviewers but as a professional he uses this story to express his identity in relation to the Canadian
archetype, clarifying his position as a white who can interact appropriately with non-white people and respect the diversity
discourse of Canadian professionals. At the same time, his story expresses his identity as heterosexual, reinforcing the gender
identity that he has already signalled through his references to extreme sports.
Brandt’s reference to South Africa being ‘‘first world’’ effectively communicates that the part of Africa he is from is not
technologically backward or dramatically different from Canada. He notes that the population is composed of more white
people than Canadians expect, metonymically, signalling that his cultural framework or background aligns with the
archetype of ‘‘British’’ rather than of ‘‘deepest darkest Africa’’.
Like others we interviewed, Brandt, when prompted, describes how coming from a different country of origin has been a
feature of his performance that attracted attention from Canadians. However, unlike most of the other migrants, his origin
has been an advantage rather than a disadvantage in his view.
7
We use the term extreme sport as it is theoretically important that the sport is one seen as physically challenging as well as risky; however, in the
interests of maintaining the participants’ anonymity we do not specify the sport. Similarly, he later specifies the ethnic origin of his fiancé which we also
disguise.
Interviewer: . . . it [being from South Africa] hasn’t been a disadvantage in any way for you?
Brandt: No. If anything people look at me as exotic, which is crazy. It hasn’t been a disadvantage at all.
In summary, while Brandt does use metonyms to symbolically denote and connect his social identity to the archetype, he
is able to convey this message most effectively through his presence: his skin colour is white, he is blond-haired and blue
eyed and speaks ‘‘proper English’’ with a South African accent that signifies British origins. By embodying the racial and
gender aspects of the archetype, Brandt is able to situate himself as belonging in Canada and able to make clients comfortable
without direct reference to his race, gender or to the Canadian client. His narrative emphasizes that he has experienced very
little scrutiny as his embodied identity speaks for itself, implicitly legitimating his claims to the identity of professional
accountant in Canada.
Given the symbolic acceptance that Brandt experienced in claiming his identity in the Canadian accounting profession,
his narrative focuses on situating himself in the professional status ordering. He distances himself from ‘‘dirty work’’ and
emphasizes his ‘‘client skills’’ by highlighting his membership in the society of Chartered Accountants of South Africa which
he describes as ‘‘one of the eight countries that is well-recognized’’ and most importantly, emphasizing his disdain for
‘‘technical accounting’’.
So why I wanted to become an accountant? I’ve never wanted to be an accountant in my life. . .I had no intention then and
have no intention of ever actually doing accounting work.
Brandt describes his work as primarily working directly with clients, of moving through many different roles and
ultimately of being offered another position in a Big 4 firm, again, without his ever having to apply. His narrative signifies the
autonomy expected of professional accountants by describing how he takes charge of his career and moves through many
different roles. He also identifies himself with the ‘‘work hard/play hard’’ ethic of elite career-focused accountants using this
anecdote:
There’s a lot of very, very smart people there that work really hard. But it was very interesting to me how many people were
prepared to sit and expect if I do my time I’ll get the next promotion, . . . That was my strongest cultural thing; otherwise, I
found people were very keen to get ahead. So those ones at X Company were probably the ones I got on better with.
In summarizing his experience to date in Canada he indicates that the professional context is quite similar to South Africa:
Other than the fact that people don’t know how to spell, it’s all been fine. It’s all very similar to me, and the way of doing
business seems to be pretty common.
However, he notes one difference: the need to ‘‘be careful’’ in how you express yourself, making reference to the popular
myth of Canadian politeness (Timson, 2011).
The South African world – we’ll just call a spade a spade where a Canadian will be more polite . . . I guess I’ve had to be fairly
careful. I learned fairly early on not to just speak my mind, but to think about what I was going to say first. Because
sometimes they’re being polite to a fault where they actually hold stuff back. . . . that’s just the way it is.
Overall, Brandt’s experience is exceptional in comparison to the rest of the migrant accountants we interviewed. As the
embodiment of the colonial-Canadian hybrid archetype he conveys through embodied and discursive signs his legitimate
claim to the identity of professional accountant in Canada. He uses metonyms to display that he performs his identity as a
white male in a way that will be familiar to Canadians and respects the diversity discourse. His statements indicate that he
sees himself, and is seen by members of the business community, as at least equal if not superior. His narrative shows how
both he and the gatekeepers assume his ‘‘fit’’ with the Canadian context and instead he focuses on signalling his social and
professional status as elite – he typifies the ‘‘privileged migrant’’ (Leonard, 2011).
5.4. Mimicking the Canadian [35_TD$IF]Professional [32_TD$IF]Accountant
While the above narrative illustrates how embodiment of the archetype enables white males with a colonial sensibility to
seem familiar and able to make the client comfortable, the rest of the accountants we interviewed have to work much harder.
In this section we illustrate how two non-white accountants from the colonial margins describe mimicking to more closely
conform to Canadian expectations. We illustrate these findings by focusing on the narratives of Fortuna, a female accounting
professional from a country in Asia8 and Badar, a male professional from Pakistan.
Neither Fortuna nor Badar embody the archetype and, as Brandt pointed out, they must succeed in differentiating
themselves from the ‘‘image people have in their heads’’ of foreign accountants. Demonstrating fit in the Canadian
accounting profession is challenging, particularly given that professionals are ‘‘petrified’’ of explicitly articulating the
Canadian archetype for fear of stepping outside the diversity discourse. By signalling their awareness of the Canadian
archetype and by consistently displaying their position as insiders through use of signs that show their knowledge of the
8
Fortuna is one of the few female professionals in Canada from her country of origin who holds a senior accounting position. To protect her anonymity we
do not disclose the name of the country.
code, they demonstrate that they can service clients in the same way a Canadian CA would. We illustrate the ways in which
these two non-white professionals from the colonial margins metonymize their professional performances using embodied
signs and through the words and stories they use to translate their experience and make their professional identities familiar
and reassuring.
5.5. Mimicking ‘‘the Man’’
Both Fortuna and Badar experience ‘‘othering’’ as they attempt to cross from the colonial margins to the metropolis.
Fortuna has to overcome the liability of the image of the deferential, quiet Asian while Badar has to overcome the image of
misogynist Muslim male; at the same time positioning themselves as competent professional accountants who can perform
in the West. Both succeeded in doing this by citing the attributes of British colonial male using embodied signs such as tone of
voice, dress and personal grooming as well as through discursive expressions. We describe the ‘‘othering’’ that each
professional faced upon entering Canada as well as the ways in which they embodied and narrated their identity in order to
cross from unfamiliar to familiar.
Fortuna describes how she was initially rejected when she submitted her CV to Canadian firms; however, using her
network of contacts, was able to obtain an interview with a partner of a Big 4 firm.
. . . I’d look at . . . newspapers and then I’ll send my CV out and I’ll get a rejection saying – ‘‘sorry, you don’t. . . have the
Canadian experience.’’ It was frustrating because how can I have the Canadian experience if you don’t, you know, give me the
chance, right?. . . I was a Senior Auditor when I left the country in Asia. They [Canadian professional firm] brought me in as a
Senior Auditor, but on contract for six months. . . . I think he gave me the offer . . . maybe the interview was good, but I think a
lot of it as well is based on the word of. . .my boss back home, so they have somebody that they knew and . . . were willing to
take the chance based on a combination of that – my interview and their knowledge of that individual, right?
Like most accountants we interviewed, Fortuna’s job search combined sending her CV to employers, responding to ads
and attempting to connect directly with professionals using her existing network as well as new contacts through
acquaintances and family in Canada. As she describes, she was summarily rejected and not even offered interviews based on
her non-Western credentials and experience. The feedback she received, when she did receive any, was that she lacked
‘‘Canadian experience’’. The majority of the accountants described similar experiences of rejection based on lack of
‘‘Canadian experience’’ and this phenomenon is so widespread among immigrants to Canada that it can be understood as a
myth and is synonymous with the general experience of being ‘‘othered’’.
‘‘Canadian experience’’ is a metonym for ‘‘unfamiliar’’ or foreign and is broadly understood within the Canadian
professional labour market as an acceptable mode of excluding non-Canadians while enabling employers to avoid
references that would contravene the diversity discourse. Requiring ‘‘Canadian experience’’ is so ubiquitous and generally
accepted that it appears to be equitable in that it is applied to all migrants. However, as we saw in the case of Brandt, to the
extent that you embody the key attributes of the colonial Canadian hybrid accountant, you are exempt from this
requirement.
As Fortuna described, she was able to obtain an interview with a Big 4 partner using her relationship with a senior
professional who had worked for the firm in Toronto and who was, therefore, an insider who understood the professional
code. As illustrated below, Fortuna uses metonyms to make her foreign training and experience familiar and to signify that
she knows how to perform as a Canadian Professional Accountant.
. . . I am a Certified Public Accountant. . .. And in the Country in Asia I worked for an organization very much like L Firm and
it’s called T Firm at that time. It’s now F Firm. . .. At that time it was still the big eight across the globe, right? T Firm was a big
firm in Asia that did work for a lot of the big eight.
The use of the metonym, the name of a Canadian Big 4 firm, demonstrates her knowledge of the codes and constructs her
claim to a professional position as a member of the elite global firms. While she was able to gain entry, at an equivalent level,
she was offered a contract rather than a permanent position. She proceeds to describe how, surmounting one barrier, she
immediately faced the challenge of learning to perform her professional identity in a style that more closely resembled the
Canadian archetype.
. . . I was a very shy individual actually. . . .I think it’s still . . . a factor for people coming from Asia, coming from Third World
countries. It’s not that they don’t know anything. It’s just a cultural . . . maybe a cultural barrier that we have to overcome, is
our shyness. . .. I guess initially they would look at me – what’s wrong with you, right?. . .Joe who I considered one of my
mentors would always [say]– ‘‘you know, you know a lot more than what you show them. . . .. The problem with you is you
don’t talk’’, he would tell me. . . . . . ‘‘. . . you just have to be more assertive, assertive, assertive.’’ Okay, okay, okay. . ..I’m still
not assertive as I should probably be. . . slowly you learn to do that. . ..I started speaking, started contributing, or even if I
could not contribute in meetings, you know, I would go one-on-one with the individual . . . if I was shy to blurt them out . . . I
would just go to that individual and just say – ‘‘you know what? I was thinking about this during the meeting. I don’t know if
it has any merit, but you know, consider it’’. . ..[people were] Very receptive, . . . very appreciative, although they always tell
me, ‘‘you should toughen up, Fortuna.’’ . . . you should just toughen up is the constant message to me. It’s like, how do you
want me to toughen up?
While she was able to demonstrate that she has the ‘‘right’’ kind of technical skills, she needed to learn to mimic the
gendered style of professional performance before she could claim her position as ‘‘client ready’’.
. . . I went to the partners then. I said, ‘‘you know, I can do more than this if you let me’’ . . ..I think they thought about it and
after a while, one of the partners took me out. His client . . . wanted some comfort that they are building the system . . . So I
worked, I worked hard on it and I did the best I can to try and prove that I can do what I said . . . I could do. And provided a lot
of recommendations to the client . . . after that, that partner said to me . . . because it was one of the high moments of my
life. . ..‘‘you know, you make my life a lot easier‘‘, is what he said to me on my way to the client. So yeah, I was quite happy
with that, with that feedback. . .
Fortuna again uses metonyms to signify that she understands the ethic of hard work and demonstrates her autonomy by
going to the partners and asking for more challenging professional work. The sign that she is able to perform as an elite
professional in Canada is her success in her direct interactions with clients. As she notes, the feedback from a Canadian
partner that she had been successful on her client engagement was ‘‘one of the high moments of her life’’. She quickly
capitalized on this acceptance by leveraging it into a permanent rather than contract position.
. . .And then they were quiet about my contract. I said –‘I’m on contract for only six months. I’m done now’. And then they
hired me full-time.
This anecdote illustrates that while she may have appeared shy, she could self-promote and be assertive, signs that she
had learned the gendered Canadian professional code. While she does not embody the Canadian archetype she can use
metonyms to translate her identity and to act in ways that signify her understanding of the professional code. Although
Fortuna does not embody the racial and gender attributes of the Canadian Professional Accountant, her appearance in other
ways communicates her understanding of the code. When she was interviewed, she was dressed in a blue suit and white
blouse with the makeup and hairstyle not unlike the image of the female professional presented on the CICA website.
Although her English is somewhat ‘‘foreign’’ in terms of her accent and grammar, her style of interaction is consistent with
other Canadian professionals. She speaks with the confidence of a professional who has succeeded in claiming her position as
a full member of the Canadian profession.
While Fortuna had to alter her professional performance to prove she was assertive and autonomous in order to cross the
gender barrier in performing the Canadian professional; Badar, a professional from Pakistan, is male but must communicate
that he appreciates the way in which colonial males perform, particularly in their relations with women.
I started looking for a job abroad. . . . there are different groups Yahoo Finance, or MSN Finance, so I was registered in one of
those groups. There was an email from a recruiter based in London, U.K. She was hiring for positions in Bermuda. ‘‘I emailed
her saying that I am not interested in there, do you have any vacancy in places where they don’t normally launder money?’’
And she ended up sending me two positions, one is with F Firm City in Texas9 and the second one is with Q FIRM Canadian
city. I applied for both and made it for the final interview with F Firm in Texas. That is a separate story, it didn’t work out.
Their partner thought I wasn’t culturally, how should I put I, culturally. . .um, he was asking questions like in my final
interview, like I had been through the technical interviews and all of that, but the final interview he was asking me, ‘‘what
you feel like if you worked under a woman?’’ and that was kind of, it kind of shows that he absolutely no knowledge . . .but I
ended up having two interviews with Q FIRM in a Canadian city with a Senior Manager and Partner and both on telephone
they love me, offered me a job and I applied for a work permit so I ended up joining . . ..
As Badar’s description of his transition indicates, he knew the stereotype he was confronting and he uses metonyms to
translate his professional identity in ways that demonstrate his awareness of the Western context. Rather than positioning
his interest in Western positions as a desire to immigrate, he articulates it as a ‘‘position abroad’’, a career move that is
common for Western accountants.
He signals his knowledge of the profession’s colonial structure by referencing his success in an interview with a recruiter
‘‘based in London’’. Many we interviewed cite British reference points to legitimate their professional claims. Badar cites his
success with a recruiter as well as his knowledge of specialized Western professional networks such as Yahoo and MSN
Finance. In narrating his experience with this British recruiter he signals his awareness that accountants from Pakistan are
viewed not only as foreign but as potentially corrupt.
He uses this tactic of subtly incorporating aspects of the stereotype into his narrative and using anecdotes or metonyms to
distance himself from the stereotype throughout his interview. This anecdote serves a number of purposes. Not only does he
demonstrate that he is an insider but through his refusal of the first opportunity presented to him, he signals that his career-
focus is the same as a Western male. He is looking for positions that will add to his experience and get him to the ‘‘C-suite’’ as
he describes in another part of his interview. Also, like Brandt, he symbolically distances himself from economic migrants
looking for any opportunity to immigrate to the West. His narrative uses anecdotes to signify that he is assertive in not
simply accepting what is offered and autonomous in that he knows what is required to succeed and is actively seeking these
opportunities.
9
Badar names Big 4 firm in a city in Texas and in Canada. The names of the cities and dates have been disguised to protect the anonymity of the
professional.
As Badar notes, as a male of Muslim faith, he confronts a gender barrier as Fortuna did. However, in his case, he must
demonstrate that he is able to work effectively with female professionals. Throughout his interview he identifies several
successful interactions with female recruiters, mentors and colleagues as well as in his personal life. This feature of his
interview stands out when compared with those accountants who do not have to overcome this barrier. In recounting the
experience of being ‘‘othered’’ by the partner in his Texas interview, he uses the metonym ‘‘quirky’’. By using the term quirky
to describe the Texan’s statements he signals that he recognizes that this reference to him as Muslim is not really acceptable
within the diversity discourse and, therefore, the Texan’s comments are unusual or outside of the norm of acceptable
behaviour among professionals. By describing this experience, he signals his command of the professional code, possibly
leveraging Canadian views of Americans, particularly those from Texas, as particularly intolerant of non-whites.
He concludes by indicating that his professional performance in interviews with a Canadian Big 4 firm was recognized:
‘‘they loved me’’. His description of this interaction is consistent with others throughout his interview where he displays his
ability to ‘self-promote’ consistent with the Western archetype for appropriate male professional behaviour. This story
signals his acceptance by the Western professional elite (the Big 4) making other Western professionals more comfortable
accepting him as well.
Later in his interview he focuses on positioning himself in the professional status hierarchy. Like Brandt and Fortuna, he
distances himself from ‘‘dirty work,’’ providing a ranking of his status versus his ‘‘Canadian peers’’ and describing the positive
feedback he has received for his performance with top Canadian firms. Throughout the interview he embodies a Canadian
professional where he can. He is dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and tie. He communicates with the researchers prior to the
interview using his Blackberry - the device used by most senior Canadian professionals at the time. His personal grooming in
terms of his hairstyle and clean-shaven appearance is consistent with the images one sees in the profession. His performance
embodies the Canadian archetype: aggressive, type A. He speaks quickly, uses forceful language, controls the interview by
initiating topics, stays focused on career issues and promotes his professional skills. Throughout the interview he uses
metonyms to position himself within the Canadian field and to bridge the gap between his embodied identity as non-white,
non-Western male [36_TD$IF]and the Canadian archetype.
Near the end of the interview he elaborates further on how his difference from the Canadian archetype creates barriers to
his success.
. . . I don’t watch ice hockey. . . . I don’t have any experience with college life, so there are limited topics
. . . I . . . follow the dietary restriction. . .halal . . .I don’t drink alcohol, so that’s one big thing. That’s one big difference in the
firm as well because every Christmas party, boat cruises, picnic, like people always drink right?
These quotes illustrate how colonial structures shape Badar’s image of himself as a professional, he implicitly compares
himself to the professional archetype noting precisely how he differs. Again, he does not reference race or gender specifically,
but alludes to them using the term ‘‘culture,’’ highlighting food and alcohol, hockey and college life. In contrast to Brandt,
Badar is not able to show how he fits and is accepted socially into Canadian society. Instead, he describes spending personal
time with others from his country of origin. Other non-Westerners also describe their personal lives as either connected to
their families and/or other people who shared their experience of being new to Canada with none who describe extensive
interaction with long-standing Canadians or elite Canadian society as Brandt does.
6. Conclusion and discussion
This study of the experiences of migrant professional accountants seeking professional work in Canada both reinforces
and extends the critical literature in accounting and diversity and suggests the value of [5_TD$IF]postcolonial theory and semiotics as a
method that provide insight into how migrant accountants are implicitly compared to the ideal accountant in claiming their
professional identities. Our findings build on this work, illustrating the glass slipper (Ashcraft, 2013) of privilege that white
males of British descent enjoy in the Canadian accounting profession and how this privilege impedes access for non-white,
non-male, non-Western accountants. However, as other scholars (Ashcraft, 2013; Johnston and Kyriacou, 2011) have also
found, the dominance of the diversity discourse requires professionals to camouflage this, in this case using metonyms
rather than direct references to race and gender. As others who have studied this ‘‘disappearing act’’ in the British accounting
profession in the nineteenth century (Poullaos, 2009) and the twenty-first century (Johnston and Kyriacou, 2011), the
equality discourse forces accountants to engage in exclusion on the basis of race and/or gender using indirect means.
We contribute to this body of literature in three specific ways. First, by focusing on how colonial structures interpellate
the process of implicit comparison of actors to an ideal we provide some additional insights into how signs used to express
professional accountant are gendered and racialized in particular ways that emanate from the British cultural roots of the
Canadian accounting profession. Secondly, we illustrate that these successful accountants implicitly shape and re-shape
their identities in relation to the colonial archetype, however, they must do this from embodied positions that limit their
agency in particular ways. Finally, we illustrate how colonial structures shape the collective image that audiences bring to
interactions making them prone to pounce on the performances of ‘‘others’’ while facilitating the performances of those who
embody the ideal.
We build on historical studies and show how colonial structures found to exclude and segregate professionals by
gender and ethnicity in Canada since the late 1800s continue to be reproduced in social interactions over a century later
(Edwards and Walker, 2008; Richardson, 1989, 2010). Our analysis identified many of the same embodied and
discursive signs that act as signals of membership in the profession in a wide variety of countries (Annisette, 2003;
Hammond et al., 2009; Sian, 2011). For example, studies have identified how professionals discursively signal their
professional identity using the cliché ‘‘work hard, play hard’’, highlighting how these ‘‘linguistic gadgets’’ reflect cultural
expectations that regulate the actions of professionals while at the same time advantaging men (Anderson-Gough[10_TD$IF], [1_TD$IF]Grey,
[12_TD$IF]and Robson, 1998). Our study illustrates how these linguistic tropes subtly reference not just the gendered structure of
the identity ‘‘Accountant’’, but communicate the more nuanced intersectional identity markers implicit in the
archetype. The phrase ‘‘work hard, play hard’’ for example, not only denotes male, it also denotes white/British and
implicitly ‘‘others’’ those who follow halal diets when playing hard is expressed through drinking alcohol at ‘‘big
boozers’’, for example.
Our analysis also highlighted how embodied signs, such as dress, accent, grooming and use of one’s voice (i.e., ‘‘speaking
up’’) are used by migrant accountants to signal their status as members of the profession, signalling fit with the archetype
despite embodying a social identity associated with the ‘‘other’’. As Haynes (2008, p. 330) argues, actors ‘‘learn to embody the
self . . . the body becomes a vehicle for displaying conformity’’. Like Haynes, we find that the ideal archetype is gendered
masculine and, therefore, undermines the capacity for non-males to feel confident of their fit. Further, the implicit gendered
character of the archetype is not just masculine, but a particular type of masculine that reflects the cultural traditions of
British colonial man and therefore, is also racialized in that it implies a particular kind of whiteness is required to claim the
hybrid ‘‘Canadian Accountant’’ identity. As Martin argues, ‘‘people practice particular kinds of gender, however, not generic
forms . . . and people are held accountable to specific kinds depending on their bodies (health, attractiveness), class, race/
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, nation, and other social statuses.’’ (2003, p. 355). Actors must perform from their
embodied position, and therefore one’s capacity to access the cultural signifiers (e.g. accent, habits) required for a convincing
performance place limits on the range of selves, on the agency a given actor can exercise.
Our findings are based on a relatively small sample of accountants migrating to Toronto and are therefore are not
necessarily reflective of the experiences of accountants migrating elsewhere in Canada or the world. In addition, our
sample is composed of a very select group who are successful. We did not control for factors such as having highly
specialized skills or exceptional talent, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. While our study has
limitations, it also may have broader relevance in understanding how professionals crossing boundaries are able to
establish their professional identities.
This study also suggests some directions for additional research. We found, as [14_TD$IF]Srinivas (2013) did, that actors implicitly
compare themselves to the ideal professional and use this awareness to shape their performances. Future studies may
explore this further, generating additional insight into how reflexive this process is and how and why this varies across
actors. The accountants included in this study represent a sample of professionals who are exceptional in Canada, in that they
have succeeded in re-claiming their professional identities while studies show the majority of migrants do not. This finding
begs the question of whether these successful accountants are exceptionally skilled in mimicry and succeed where others fail
or whether those who are less successful are aware that they may reclaim their identities but exercise their agency in
choosing not to mimic. Some migrants may find the initial experiences of ‘‘othering’’ and rejection so emotionally
traumatizing that they simply accept their exclusion rather than engage with members of the professional field in Canada. In
addition, despite awareness of the ideal and one’s difference from it, some migrants’ embodied identity may limit the extent
to which they are able to successfully mimic even if they choose to try. As Thomson and Jones ([37_TD$IF]2015) found, mimicry takes
many forms and is not desirable or feasible for all migrant professionals.
Finally, our analysis illustrates how colonial structures interpellate the collective image of Canadian Accountant that is
‘‘common knowledge’’ that all members of the professional field, perhaps most importantly, audiences (i.e. clients as well as
professional peers) bring to each interaction. These ‘‘facts’’ create an inherent scepticism that impedes the ability of
audiences to see the claims of accounting professionals who do not embody the ideal as legitimate. We hope that by
shedding light on the gendered and racialized structure of the discourse that is implicitly present in the stock phrases and
standard practices of employers in the Canadian context we can create the opportunity for them to ‘‘do otherwise’’(Ahonen,
Tienari, Meriläinen, [9_TD$IF]and Pulle, 2014). As our findings illustrate, responsibility for the exclusion of non-white, non-male, non-
Western professionals cannot be simply attributed to racism on the part of individuals in the profession but is more systemic
and has withstood over a century of global debate. Therefore, as Jonsen, Tatli, Özbilgin, and Bell (2013) argue, change cannot
be brought about by any single actor. We must move beyond thinking that an individual professional or the accounting
profession can independently effect change. Further, our study particularly highlights the importance that the wider
business community, in their role of clients to the profession must play. Our findings suggest how all members of the
profession may become more reflexive about the role they play in reproducing inequality and possibly more aware of how to
alter their own performances to become more inclusive.
[38_TD$IF]Acknowledgements
We [39_TD$IF]thank [40_TD$IF]our [41_TD$IF]participants [42_TD$IF]for [43_TD$IF]generously [4_TD$IF]sharing [45_TD$IF]their stories with us. We also thank Olivia Kyriakidou and [46_TD$IF]two
[47_TD$IF]anonymous reviewers as well as colleagues at the 2013[48_TD$IF] Equality,[49_TD$IF] Diversity and Inclusion conference for their constructive
suggestions. Finally,[50_TD$IF] we acknowledge the financial support of the Great West Life Assurance Co. who provided funding for the
project-the views expressed in the paper are those of the authors.
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Critical Perspectives on Accounting 35 (2016) 58–75

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

Colonials in Camouﬂage: Metonymy, mimicry and the

2. Mimicry and performing the Canadian professional accountant

2.1. Performing professional identity

2.2. Performance in postcolonial theory

3.1. Migrant accountants and the Canadian accounting profession

4.1. Our data

4.2. A semiotic approach

Recruitment sources Migrant accountants Human resource & diversity professionalsa

Researchers’ professional networks 6 1

Characteristic Frequency Characteristic Frequency

Gender Ethno-racial backgroundc

Age at arrival Decade of arrival

Years pre-arrival experienced Years Canadian experienced

Professional Country of Arrival decade Career progression in Canada

Fig. 1. Making the client comfortable.

5.1. The hybrid colonial-[27_TD$IF]Canadian accountant archetype

. . . we’re mostly A type personalities, very aggressive, career focused.

5.2. Performing the Canadian Professional [32_TD$IF]Accountant circa 2000

5.3. Being the archetype

5.4. Mimicking the Canadian [35_TD$IF]Professional [32_TD$IF]Accountant

5.5. Mimicking ‘‘the Man’’

6. Conclusion and discussion

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