Book excerpt: One of the prime purposes of accounting is to communicate and yet, to date, this fundamental aspect of the discipline has received relatively little attention. The Routledge Companion to Accounting Communication represents the first collection of contributions to focus on the power of communication in accounting. The chapters have a shared aim of addressing the misconception that accounting is a purely technical, number-based discipline by highlighting the use of narrative, visual and technological methods to communicate accounting information. The contents comprise a mixture of reflective overview, stinging critique, technological exposition, clinical analysis and practical advice on topical areas of interest such as: The miscommunication that preceded the global financial crisis The failure of sustainability reporting The development of XBRL How to cut clutter With an international coterie of contributors, including a communication theorist, a Big Four practitioner and accounting academics, this volume provides an eclectic array of expert analysis and reflection. The contributors reveal how accounting communications represent, or misrepresent, the financial affairs of entities, thus presenting a state-of-the-art assessment on each of the main facets of this important topic. As such, this book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including: postgraduate students in management and accounting; established researchers in the fields of both accounting and communications; and accounting practitioners.