Written by Karen Bennett, Marketing Manager at BrightPay:
1. Wikipedia describes accountants as ‘a practitioner of accounting or accountancy, which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resource(s)’.
2. The word ‘accountant’ comes from the French word ‘compter’ or ‘computare’ which means to count or score. The words ‘accounting’ and ‘accountancy’ were in use in Great Britain in the mid 1800’s and come from the words ‘accompting’ and ‘accountantship’.
3. Accountants can work for the FBI !! Over 2,000 specialists accountants are employed by the FBI.
4. “Accounting involves high level maths” – The truth is most accountants use basic arithmetic and simple equations. Computers do most of the work. Accountants then analyse and interpret the results.
5. We have an accountant to thank for chewing or bubble gum – Bubble gum was invented by Walter Diemer, an accountant in 1928.
6. Accounting is thousands of years old, dating back to ancient civilizations. There is evidence of early auditing systems by the ancient Egyptians and double-entry bookkeeping too off in medieval Europe.
7. Accountants can pray to their own patron saint of accounts, St Matthew the Evangelist, author of the first of the Gospels. He is also the patron saint of tax collectors, bookkeepers, stock brokers and bankers.
8. Good news!! According to a salary guide, starting wages were set to increase by 4.7% in 2016. There continues to be a strong demand for accountants.
9. Seven out of ten accountants said they are happy with their accounting position, with most stating they would stick with their accounting career even if they could time travel back and change it all.
10. There a few celebrities that initially studied to be accountants including Mick Jagger, Eddie Izzard, John Grisham, JP Morgan, Robert Plant and Bob Newhart.
