5 Interesting Facts About Accountancy

This post has been written by Ezekiel Ayonrinde – He currently works on behalf of Perrys Chartered Accountants in London.

Accountancy has long been made fun of. People like to think of accountants as dull, boring individuals obsessed with number crunching. What they might not know is that the profession has its roots in ancient history, that a number of famous celebrities started their life off as accountants, and that accountants have even invented products we use every day. Here, we’ll examine five interesting facts about accountancy:

1. Accountancy is one of the oldest professions in the world

Many people think of farming or law as some of the oldest professions in the world. What they might not know is that accountancy has its roots in prehistory. Strange but true.

The Smithsonian museum has an exhibit from South Africa’s Blombos Cave that is over 75,000 years old. The Blombos Ocher Plaque has markings on it that might have been used to record information. The organised pattern suggests it wasn’t for decorative purposes.

Move forward in time and you will see the first accounting system being used in ancient Mesopotamia. Farmers relied on accounting 7,000 years ago to record their crops and herds; using it to determine if they had a surplus at the end of season.

Bookkeeping on clay tokens was used in ancient Iran between 4000 and 3000 BC. These are the first example of graphical representations used in accountancy.

The Romans were fond of using accounting systems to help run their empire. The Emperor Augustus, for example, created the first government accounts in 23 BC (called a “rationarium”). It listed revenue earned from the empire, how much was in the treasury, in the hands of tax officials and contractors.

2. Many famous celebrities were accountants

Before they hit the big time, many famous celebrities started life off as accountants. These range from well-known authors to singers and film stars.

Mick Jagger was a high achieving student at Dartford Grammar School who went on to study to become an accountant at the London School of Economics. His band, The Rolling Stones, became big and he left university to pursue a career as the frontman of one of the world’s most successful bands. You know the rest.

John Grisham, the famous novelist, studied Accountancy at Mississippi State University. Janet Jackson and Kenny G are two musicians who studied accounting. Robert took accounting lessons but quit.

Actor and comedian Eddie Izzard studied Accountancy at Sheffield University.

In the world of business, J.P.Morgan started off his career as a junior accountant before founding the iconic investment bank. Arthur Blank, co-founder of the famous American DIY chain Home Depot, studied accounting at university before working as an accountant at Arthur Young. Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, studied accounting at university.

3. St Matthew, the patron saint of accountants

Did you know that Accountancy has its own patron saint? St Matthew, also known as Matthew the Apostle, was one of Jesus’ first disciples and is the patron saint of accountants, tax collectors, bankers and perfumers. He worked as a tax collector for King Herod before joining Jesus’ cause and is most famous for authoring the Gospel of Matthew. His saint day is the 21st September.

6. Athletes have even been accountants

Accountants have even doubled as athletes. One of Australia earliest Olympic heroes, Edwin Flack, won gold in the 800 and 1500m runs at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. He also won bronze in the mixed doubles tennis event.

Edwin Flack was an accountant when he achieved Olympic success. He worked at his family’s firm in Australia in 1898 and joined Price, Waterhouse & Co (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) when he was 21.

5. And finally… an accountant invented bubble gum

Accountants are not normally known as inventors, but did you know that one invented bubble gum?

Walter Diemer was working as an accountant for Fleer, a confectionary company, when he came up with developed the recipe for bubble gum in 1928. His product, Dubble Bubble, became a success and sold millions in the first year. New flavours were added gradually and products like gumballs were developed by the company.