10 facts about accountants we bet you didn’t know

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    Iheonu 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:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Bookkeeper and the words derived from it (bookkeeping etc.) are the only words in the English language with three consecutive sets of double letters.
    4. 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.
      Mick Jagger (1982)
    5. St. Matthew the Evangelist is the patron saint of accountants, as well as bookkeepers, tax collectors, bookkeepers, stockbrokers, and bankers.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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. 
    10. 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.”
    11. Credit: Boox

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