Beyond the unfashionable boring gray: a collaborative autoethnography on the journey to become an accounting professional

We explore how young audit professionals navigate identity development as they transition into mature professionals, using fashion as a metaphor to illuminate dynamics within accountancy. Drawing on our own similar career trajectories — from Big Four firms to accounting academia — we employ a collaborative autoethnography based on four conversations corresponding to key stages of becoming and working as a Dutch chartered accountant: recruitment, education alongside work, professional practice, and lecturing. A photo-driven approach supports reflection on identity trajectories over time. The study shows how diverse backgrounds shape how auditors engage with and influence a profession often perceived as uniformly ‘grey.’ Using the fashion metaphor, we highlight a central paradox: while fashion values uniqueness, accountancy derives legitamicy from uniformity. We argue that this greyness should be recognized and valued as essential to the profession’s societal role.Practical implications – The study suggests that accounting regulators, firms, and educators can better support professional development by deepening their understanding of how young auditors shape their identities throughout training and practice. The photo-based collaborative autoethnographic approach retrospectively proved especially useful for part-time students combining study and work, helping them reflect on their everyday experiences. Integrating such reflective methods into educational and organizational policies may strengthen identity formation and support the profession’s further development.Originality/value – This research offers practical value by showing how a fashion-based metaphor and a collaborative autoethnographic, photo-driven method can uncover how young auditors develop their professional identities across different stages of training and work. These insights help accounting firms, educators, and professional bodies better understand the experiences behind the profession’s ‘boring gray’ stereotype and support more effective approaches to professional development and talent retention.