Share this
by The Bean Team on December 25, 2018
2 MIN READ
Fact: there's much more to accounting than just numbers and data entry.
While accounting isn't widely known as the most exciting career, it has a long and storied past dating back to the ancient accountants of Mesopotamia who used clay tokens to keep track of things like animals and grain.
Fascinating, right?
Well, there's more where that came from. Here are ten more totally random—but totally awesome—accounting facts.
#1. Accountants are multi-talented. Take Walter Diemer for example. Not only was he an accountant, but he also invented bubble gum in 1928. Chew on that.
#2. Never underestimate the power of accountants. They have controlled the Academy Awards since 1935! A team of nine accountants will spend up to 1700 hours prior to Oscar night hand-counting the ballots.
#3. In 1494, Italian mathematician and "father of accounting" Luca Pacioli wrote the first book on double-entry accounting entitled Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita. In this book, he notes that one "should not go to sleep until the debits equal the credits.”
#4. Pacioli's book not only inspired a lot of insomnia, but also a new holiday—International Accounting Day. This holiday takes place on November 10th, so be sure to mark your calendar and celebrate the accountants in your life.
#5. “Bookkeeping” is the only English word to contain three sets of double letters back-to-back-to-back.
#6. Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant); Nike was actually created as part of one of his MBA courses.
#7. In 1899, Christine Ross became the first female CPA in the US. Her clients included wealthy women and people who worked in the business and fashion industry—she certainly knew the value of niching up.
#8. The FBI employs over 2,000 accounting specialists. And that's all we can say about that...
#9. The word accountant comes from the French work compter (meaning to count or score), which is derived from the Italian and Latin word computare. The word was formerly written in English as accomptant, pronounced without the "p." Over time, "accomptant" gradually changed both in pronunciation and in spelling to its present-day form.
#10. Mick Jagger and Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) worked in accounting before their rock and roll careers took off. We're glad they didn't stick to their day jobs.
Bonus
As if ten totally random but interesting accounting facts weren't enough of a treat, here are some helpful QuickBooks keyboard shortcuts for those of you playing accountant and doing your own bookkeeping:
