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IIheonu Nkechi Gloria 2 years ago
In the spirit of this, we have put together an equally eclectic bunch of facts we bet you never knew about accountants and the accounting profession:
- Bubblegum was invented by an accountant, Walter Diemar, in 1928. It was bright pink because that was the only dye he had to hand at.
- It was accountants who brought down Chicago crime boss Al Capone. Although believed to be guilty of everything from bootlegging to murder, he was ultimately arrested and convicted of tax evasion.
- Bookkeeper and the words derived from it (bookkeeping etc.) are the only words in the English language with three consecutive sets of double letters.
- Mick Jagger, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and comedian Eddie Izzard are just a few famous names who worked in accounting before their showbiz careers took off.
- St. Matthew the Evangelist is the patron saint of accountants, as well as bookkeepers, tax collectors, bookkeepers, stockbrokers, and bankers.
- Monty Python frequently poked fun at accountants (click here for a quick laugh). A possible reason for this is that John Cleese’s father wanted him to be an accountant; he was due to start work for Grace, Derbyshire & Todd Chartered Accountants in Bristol.
- Accounting has been around for millennia. Tokens dating back 7000 years were discovered in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq, Turkey, and Syria). These are thought to be the earliest documented records of goods received and traded.
- Accountants play an essential role in the Oscars. Since 1935, a team of accountants has spent an average of 1700 hours before Oscar night counting the Academy Award ballots by hand.
- Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli is regarded as the father of accounting. He published the first book on double-entry accounting in 1494. Leonardo da Vinci was one of his students.
- The word “accounting” comes from the french “compter,” meaning to count or score. Other accounting terms are derived from Latin, such as “debit” – “he owes” and “credit” – “he trusts.”
- Credit: Boox