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FUN FACTS ABOUT
ACCOUNTING
Obviously, accounting is an essential part of a business, but the words to describe accounting aren’t usually ‘fun’ or ‘exciting’. However, here are some fun and exciting accounting facts that will surprise you. These are 12 Fun Facts about Accounting:
1
The original word for ‘Accounting’
The English word ‘accounting’ comes from the noun ‘account.’ It originated from Old French ‘acont’ meaning ‘account, reckoning or terminal payment.’ The Old French term came from Latin ‘computus’ meaning ‘calculation.’
2
The original word for ‘Accountant’
The word accountant in the English language is derived from the Old French word "compter", also derived from the Latin word "computare". It was formerly written in English as "accomptant", which was always pronounced by dropping the "p," and gradually changed in pronunciation and orthography to its present form.
3
The first recorded name in history belonged to an accountant
The writing was etched on clay tablets and read “29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim.” which scholars believe to read as “A total of 29,086 measures of barley were received over 37 months.”
4
Bubble gum was invented by accountant
Walter E. Diemer, a 23-year-old accountant, accidentally invented bubble gum while testing recipes in 1928. The inventor once said, when asked how it got its color “Pink food coloring was the only thing I had on hand”.
5
FBI accountants played a huge part in bringing down Al Capone
Financial crimes always leave a footprint. They will always be captured most of the time in the accounting records somewhere thanks to double-entry bookkeeping. The two-year forensic accounting investigation was conducted by the US Treasury Department and led by special agent (and accountant) Frank Wilson, which led to Al Capone being ultimately arrested.
6
Before there was a standard numbering system, accountants kept track of animals and grain with clay tokens
The world’s first writing traces its beginnings back to an ancient system of accounting. Using this method of accounting, accountants used small geometrically shaped clay tokens to keep track of goods such as livestock and grain produced in the early farming communities of the ancient Near East. The token shapes represented various kinds of merchandise prevalent in the farming economy of the time. For example, a cone stood for a small measure of barley, a sphere for a larger measure of barley, and a disc for sheep. The accounting industry has come a long way now, using cloud-based accounting software for recording our financial transactions.
7
Luca Pacioli developed the field of accounting
Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli was the first person to publish a detailed double-entry accounting system of financial recordkeeping in which every debit (Latin for “he owes”) was matched to a credit (“he trusts”). Luca Pacioli is famously quoted as saying that “a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits equal the credits”.
8
Celebrities in accounting
Mick Jagger and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin were both pursuing accounting before their music careers took off. Comedian Eddie Izzard, a son of an accountant, tried his hand at accounting while studying at the University of Sheffield. Kenny G, a world-famous saxophonist and a best-selling instrumental musician, also has a degree in accounting from the University of Washington.
9
Income tax was originally introduced as a temporary measure to finance the war against France
On January 9th, 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced a measure to help cover the cost of his country’s war with France, which was a direct tax on the citizen’s wealth called income tax.
10
Accountants spend approximately 1700 hours hand-counting ballots for the Academy Awards
A team of nine accountants spends up to 1,700 hours prior to Oscar night, counting the academy award ballots cast in each category by hand.
11
The words debit and credit come from the Latin words debitum and creditum
Both of these words are derived from Latin origins, where the word debit is derived from debitum (what is due), while the word credit is derived from creditum (that which is entrusted).
12
The FBI employs over 2000 accountants
The FBI employs more than 2,000 accounting special agents who use their accounting skills to solve crimes. All the different areas accountants can work in, it is making it an exciting career with tons of opportunities.