Why I Adore Accountants

One of the regrets I had about leaving my last job was that I thought I wouldn't be working with finance geeks anymore. And to a certain extent, that's true. Where I work now it's much more centered on accounting, which means I have to learn a whole bunch of stuff about ticking and tying and the general ledger, and for once in my life no one gives a rat's ass about strategic reporting. But there's a lot of overlap between the finance geeks and the accounting geeks, and I'm learning to love the accounting geeks almost as much as I loved their finance counterparts.

There is a ruler on every desk, which appeals to my obsessive-compulsive nature (when I underlined my books in college, I liked to use a ruler, and that's just how crazy I am). There are pencil sharpeners everywhere, because you can give an accountant Excel, and he will love it, but it's a rare accountant who doesn't sometimes find himself with a printout wanting to check things off with a sharp pencil.

The way they show affection is wonderful, too--they give you tax advice, or find you a spreadsheet. They understand that if they learn something it will make me really happy, and they trip over themselves like big puppies showing off what they find out. It's so gratifying to teach people who are eager to learn and curious about their work tools. (Not that there aren't a few subscribers to the "I am a passive learner. Now you will fill my head with knowledge." school of thought, too--but I don't think you ever get away from that.)

And there is no one like an accountant to appreciate the glory of a really tiny risk. I think this is my favorite thing of all. The risk inherent in very small decisions--what to have for lunch, how you assemble your flat-pack furniture, whether you're going somewhere now or later--is not likely to be lost on an accountant. And since the risk of every small decision is automatically magnified in my head (sometimes more so than the large decisions), I find this utterly disarming. I know they're not rock stars. But I think they might be more fun to work with.