After 10 years working as an auditor in the private and public sectors, I moved into teaching accounting and from there into a research and teaching career, and am both a qualified accountant (FCCA) and a qualified teacher. I am now Professor in Accounting at Portsmouth Business School, having gained my PhD as a part-time student in 2004 from University of Essex. I have recently been given the British Accounting and Finance Association Distinguished Academic Award for 2023.My main area of interest is in how accounting systems and performance measurement are used in the agri-food industry. This also leads me to investigate the ways in which accounting information is communicated - and in which it can be used, misused and abused.