Backstage and frontstage interactions in management accountants' identity work

Using data from an in-depth case study of a manufacturing firm, this paper examines management accountants' efforts to position themselves as business partners. We regard this as an identity project that is influenced not only by operational managers (as the main addressees of business partnering), but also by other organizational actors with whom management accountants (indirectly) interact. Drawing upon Goffman, our study demonstrates how backstage and frontstage interactions with various actors allow management accountants to develop ideational and experimental storyable items, which help them render a vague aspirational identity meaningful. We emphasize the interplay between frontstage and backstage performances and highlight both achievements and experiences of fragility in their identity work. Our paper illuminates not only the micro-dynamics of accountants' identity work; it also shows how the identity project of a particular occupational group is embedded in broader organizational concerns with 'value creation', from which it draws part of its inspiration.