10 Facts About Accountants

1. Bubblegum was invented by an accountant, Walter Diemar in 1928. It was bright pink in colour because that was the only dye he had to hand at the time.
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 3 consecutive sets of double letters.
4. Mick Jagger, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and comedian Eddie Izzard are just a few of the famous names who worked in accounting before their showbiz careers took off.
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. 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 important role in the Oscars. Every year since 1935 a team of accountants has spent an average of 1700 hours prior to 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”.

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