Accountants - Boring People?
Discussion
Is it just me or does anyone one else find accountants hard work socially? I met up with a distant relative yesterday for the first time in about 10 years and her new husband had definitely had a charisma bypass. Guess what he did for a living – an accountant. We also have an accountant acquaintance who keeps asking us round for dinner and I am running out of excuses. Last time I felt so emotionally drained after having to throw open questions at them the whole time to try and squeeze some conversation out of them.
I am sure that other professions also seem to attract certain personalities. I often wonder whether they are attracted to these jobs or if the job makes them into a stereotype personality. Have any of you got other examples?
Apologies if any P’hers out there are accountants – you can always buy me a beer to try and change my opinion
I am sure that other professions also seem to attract certain personalities. I often wonder whether they are attracted to these jobs or if the job makes them into a stereotype personality. Have any of you got other examples?
Apologies if any P’hers out there are accountants – you can always buy me a beer to try and change my opinion
Anchovy: No! No! No! You don't understand. I've been a chartered accountant for the last twenty years. I want a new job. Something exciting that will let me live.
Counsellor: Well chartered accountancy is rather exciting isn't it?
Anchovy: Exciting? No it's not. It's dull. Dull. Dull. My God it's dull, it's so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy and boring and des-per-ate-ly DULL.
Counsellor: Well, er, yes Mr Anchovy, but you see your report here says that you are an extremely dull person. You see, our experts describe you as an appallingly dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful. And whereas in most professions these would be considerable drawbacks, in chartered accountancy they are a positive boon.
Anchovy: But don't you see, I came here to find a new job, a new life, a new meaning to my existence. Can't you help me?
Counsellor: Well, do you have any idea of what you want to do?
Anchovy: Yes, yes I have.
Counsellor: What?
Anchovy: (boldly) Lion taming.
Counsellor: Well chartered accountancy is rather exciting isn't it?
Anchovy: Exciting? No it's not. It's dull. Dull. Dull. My God it's dull, it's so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy and boring and des-per-ate-ly DULL.
Counsellor: Well, er, yes Mr Anchovy, but you see your report here says that you are an extremely dull person. You see, our experts describe you as an appallingly dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful. And whereas in most professions these would be considerable drawbacks, in chartered accountancy they are a positive boon.
Anchovy: But don't you see, I came here to find a new job, a new life, a new meaning to my existence. Can't you help me?
Counsellor: Well, do you have any idea of what you want to do?
Anchovy: Yes, yes I have.
Counsellor: What?
Anchovy: (boldly) Lion taming.
I think one aspect might be that the onerous professional exam schedule, post grad, means that for 3-5 years or so there's not much time to do anything to have to talk about.
My wife has qualified as an accountant and ciot recently, and she had to work far harder than I thought reasonable [i.e. far harder than I would have done], as well as doing a pretty demanding job. She's still intersting, though
My wife has qualified as an accountant and ciot recently, and she had to work far harder than I thought reasonable [i.e. far harder than I would have done], as well as doing a pretty demanding job. She's still intersting, though
A somewhat outdated stereotype I would venture
I assume all IT/tech types are terribly interesting and none of them ever watch star trek or talk about ip interupts at parties ....
I meet and deal with accountants every day - some are toward the more stereotypical view as mentioned above - others are tremendously entrepreneurial an dynamic who view the professional qualification as a background for a commercial role.
Anyway - someones got to do the tax returns.
edited to add
I've got my own hat with flashing lights thats says LIONTAMER
I assume all IT/tech types are terribly interesting and none of them ever watch star trek or talk about ip interupts at parties ....
I meet and deal with accountants every day - some are toward the more stereotypical view as mentioned above - others are tremendously entrepreneurial an dynamic who view the professional qualification as a background for a commercial role.
Anyway - someones got to do the tax returns.
edited to add
I've got my own hat with flashing lights thats says LIONTAMER
I have at least two very good friends who are accountants, neither of whom I would describe as boring!
That said, neither of them would recommend the profession to somebody else
One of them actually talked the Mrs out of making a move into accountancy 
A family friend once dated an accountant who was desperate not to live up to the stereotypical accountant's image.
So he bought a "sports car".
Well, actually a Merc 200SLK with no options, "beacuse it made the best sense, financially"
'nuff said...
That said, neither of them would recommend the profession to somebody else
One of them actually talked the Mrs out of making a move into accountancy A family friend once dated an accountant who was desperate not to live up to the stereotypical accountant's image.
So he bought a "sports car".
Well, actually a Merc 200SLK with no options, "beacuse it made the best sense, financially"
'nuff said...One bright sunny afternoon a hot air ballonist was happily flying along over the countryside when his ballon decided that it wanted to come back down to earth.
After the crash the pilot climbed from the wreckage unhurt and walked across a field to the nearest road. He sat and waited until finally a car came along. He waved for the car to stop and the driver pulled to a halt.
Pilot - "Can you tell me where I am?"
Car Driver "Uhm, your in a field in the middle of nowhere"
Pilot - "Your not an accountant are you?"
Car Driver - "Why?"
Pilot - "Because you guys always tell me completely accurate information that is bloody useless"
Apologies to all the accountants. I know its not true...
Deester...
After the crash the pilot climbed from the wreckage unhurt and walked across a field to the nearest road. He sat and waited until finally a car came along. He waved for the car to stop and the driver pulled to a halt.
Pilot - "Can you tell me where I am?"
Car Driver "Uhm, your in a field in the middle of nowhere"
Pilot - "Your not an accountant are you?"
Car Driver - "Why?"
Pilot - "Because you guys always tell me completely accurate information that is bloody useless"
Apologies to all the accountants. I know its not true...
Deester...
We're just the same as any other profession, once you've lifted up the rock to find us that is 
History has always had the accountant as the scorekeeper. I remember someone once classified an accountant as "someone who walks around the battlefield counting the dead", a reciever on the other hand was "someone who walks around the battlefield and bayonets the wounded".
More & more accountants are moving out of the traditional scorekeeping / back office role and into a more "commercial" type of position, be this running your own practice or as part of an operational/management group. For me moving into a commercial role was the only option otherwise I would have gone stir crazy.
Imagine walking into the office and seeing the same old faces and all you do is process invoices, collect payments and pay people. This could send you round the bend
and could easily lead to 
On an overall basis some are dull as dishwater, some more interesting with a fairly normal spread across the population.
Chris
History has always had the accountant as the scorekeeper. I remember someone once classified an accountant as "someone who walks around the battlefield counting the dead", a reciever on the other hand was "someone who walks around the battlefield and bayonets the wounded".
More & more accountants are moving out of the traditional scorekeeping / back office role and into a more "commercial" type of position, be this running your own practice or as part of an operational/management group. For me moving into a commercial role was the only option otherwise I would have gone stir crazy.
Imagine walking into the office and seeing the same old faces and all you do is process invoices, collect payments and pay people. This could send you round the bend
and could easily lead to On an overall basis some are dull as dishwater, some more interesting with a fairly normal spread across the population.
Chris
CVP said: We're just the same as any other profession, once you've lifted up the rock to find us that is
History has always had the accountant as the scorekeeper. I remember someone once classified an accountant as "someone who walks around the battlefield counting the dead", a reciever on the other hand was "someone who walks around the battlefield and bayonets the wounded".
More & more accountants are moving out of the traditional scorekeeping / back office role and into a more "commercial" type of position, be this running your own practice or as part of an operational/management group. For me moving into a commercial role was the only option otherwise I would have gone stir crazy.
Imagine walking into the office and seeing the same old faces and all you do is process invoices, collect payments and pay people. This could send you round the bend
On an overall basis some are dull as dishwater, some more interesting with a fairly normal spread across the population.
Chris
Sorry fell asleep before I got to the end
Big_M said: ............ and another thing - why do accountants always have that attitude that a company exists purely for their benefit. Sod whether the systems they introduce work for any other departments.
It's not quite that simple. You'll find this is a common occurance in lots of businesses. It comes down to people working in a silo kind of mentality. If people would discuss things across departments and decide what is the most appropriate procedure to apply in the first place. Then at least we all know why we're doing something ! If noone talks to other departments you quickly end up with the "WTF do we have to do this for?" issue.
Chris
Hello, my name is Griff2be and, err :feetshuffling: I am a Chartered Accountant.
Come on people!! There are boring types in all professions and accountancy is no exception. Accountancy has a stereotype which people enjoy perpetuating, usually without understanding what accountants do.
I specialise in mergers, acquisitions and disposals of companies - boards of directors rely on people like me to provide them with confidence that their proposed acquisition is what they think it is, that there are no nasty surprises and that they are paying the right price.
In my twelve years as an accountant I have worked in Poland, Holland, France, Germany, the USA and been on secondment for 3 months in New Zealand. I was seconded to a bank for 6 months lending money to management teams to buy their companies.
There are times when I would cheerfully jack it all in when its 11pm on a Friday night and I'm still in the office. There are other times when it is very dull and boring and I'm doing something I've done loads of times before. There are other times at a completion meeting when a deal that everyone has been working on for months is finally signed at 3am, the champagne is popped and it all seems worthwhile.
It is not what someone does for a living that makes them boring to you. Its their personality. Sometimes you have nothing in common with a person and socially it can be a nightmare.
Lawyers, on the other hand. Well they're all *&^$%ers!!!
Come on people!! There are boring types in all professions and accountancy is no exception. Accountancy has a stereotype which people enjoy perpetuating, usually without understanding what accountants do.
I specialise in mergers, acquisitions and disposals of companies - boards of directors rely on people like me to provide them with confidence that their proposed acquisition is what they think it is, that there are no nasty surprises and that they are paying the right price.
In my twelve years as an accountant I have worked in Poland, Holland, France, Germany, the USA and been on secondment for 3 months in New Zealand. I was seconded to a bank for 6 months lending money to management teams to buy their companies.
There are times when I would cheerfully jack it all in when its 11pm on a Friday night and I'm still in the office. There are other times when it is very dull and boring and I'm doing something I've done loads of times before. There are other times at a completion meeting when a deal that everyone has been working on for months is finally signed at 3am, the champagne is popped and it all seems worthwhile.
It is not what someone does for a living that makes them boring to you. Its their personality. Sometimes you have nothing in common with a person and socially it can be a nightmare.
Lawyers, on the other hand. Well they're all *&^$%ers!!!
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