Films, comics and popular culture have depicted accountants for decades. What does society think of the beancounter character and what role can they play? An interview with Profs. Mark Christensen, ESSEC Asia-Pacific, and Sébastien Rocher of IAE Nancy School of Management.

The Accountant: Perceptions, Challenges and a Key Role to Play in Shaping Responsible Business and Society by Tom Gamble. Related research: The persistence of accountant beancounter images in popular culture, by Mark Christensen and Sébastien Rocher. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Publishing.

Business and management, fields with their multiple dimensions and disciplines, have long-since been highlighted in popular culture. Metaphors abound. The sales rep as shark or super hero, the IT wizard as anti-social geek or saviour of the universe. But perhaps one of the most lasting and multifaceted popular images is that of the Accountant – a constant in films, cartoons, comics and books over the years – portrayed as both an endearing and unexpected hero (Itzhak Stern in Schindler’s List), or a cold-hearted beancounter character whose calculations go without regard for others (Sidney J. Mussburger in The Hudsucker Proxy).

For Profs. Mark Christensen, ESSEC Asia-Pacific, and Sébastien Rocher of IAE Nancy School of Management, how people through popular culture view the Accountant, can actually bring valuable lessons to help positively shape the profession for the benefit of business, wider society, and the planet.  

Their research paper – The persistence of accountant beancounter images in popular culture – has appeared in the Routledge-CoBS Focus on Responsible Business series, included among other leading contributors in the book Responsible Finance & Accounting. In this spotlight, we interview Profs. Christensen and Rocher on their findings.

What key takeaways does your research and work on the topic reveal for your readers?

“Mass culture outputs such as comics,” states Prof. Christensen, “highlight important economic, social, political, and cultural problems of the time to arouse the satirical consciousness of its readers.

In our article, comics show accountant characters that reflect social functions of accounting as well as being instruments for the comic artists to reflect their circumstances. In this way, popular culture reflects accounting whilst also using images of accounting to pursue particular purposes of the purveyors of popular culture.”

“Seeing accounting from the perspective of popular culture,” adds Prof. Rocher, “the ‘beancounter’ image is recognised but it may not be permanent. The social functions of accounting, as perceived by society as a whole, are subject to change.”

Why are perceptions of the beancounter image important in the context of responsible finance & accounting?

For Christensen and Rocher, accounting is a socio-technical construction with powerful consequences – but especially where its audience allows it to be performative. That requires the audience of accounting to believe that accounting is legitimate, reliable and consequential. So there’s a promise where the focus is on responsible outcomes but a risk where accounting allows irresponsible outcomes through an excessive focus on the ‘bottom line’ (profit/loss) which hides other outcomes. A desirable change from this is for non-accountants to focus more on the consequences arising from accounting rather than the technical aspects of accounting.

Raising a challenge for the profession

A challenge lies in shaking off certain perceptions of the Accountant especially given the fact that in a business and management context, accounting is necessarily housed in goal-seeking entities within the company – accounting, management control, legal, and HR departments, for example. However, it is for these disciplines to move from providing perceptions of accounting to making future efforts to render their entities more socially responsible. “For example,” states Prof. Christensen, “if accountants perceive their role as simply to measure profit/loss, net assets and owner’s equity, won’t they limit themselves to the extent that they will miss the big issues with which society needs help and information?”

Popular culture, assert Christensen and Rocher, can be a mirror with which all disciplines can glean a societal view of themselves. “Our work does that for accountants but all professions can similarly benefit. For example, as IT engineers grapple with the ethical dilemmas of algorithmic transparency, shouldn’t they take on board the views of society as reflected in popular culture?” Food for thought indeed.

Useful links:

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