Carol McLachlan challenges traditional preconceptions about accountants' personalities and encourages us to share what we love about what we do.

Keen readers may recall my last piece for AccountingWEB.co.uk where I disclosed my intrepid foray into the world of stand up comedy. The resulting article, ‘Beancounter to liontamer: where did it all go right?’ challenged the traditional stereotyping of the profession and introduced the true 21st century accountant: smart, multi-faceted, techno savvy, adaptive and a well-connected winning communicator.

But there’s more to this story, and right now feels like a good time to pick up the threads. No excuses from me for a feel-good piece on the profession in hard times. Now’s the time to celebrate our assets.

So back to the story. Last summer, I worked with a bunch of comics (amateur and professional) on my stand up routine: performance, technique and of course, content. Clearly we worked together; we sparked off one another, we shared ideas, we asked for help. What struck me most about the whole experience were the views, opinions, typecasting and indeed prejudices that came to the fore. Most of the time entirely unsolicited, my fellow comedians couldn’t wait to get in their digs on the archetypal accountant.

It got me thinking. While I was fielding (with wit!) these jolly jibes, I really couldn’t help reflecting that there might be more than a grain of truth in what they were saying. They say truth is stranger than fiction. I say let’s stand up and be counted. Peer closer and it’s clear that these very quips are actually a source of pride to our profession. In this challenging economic environment it’s time to get out our lights from under all those proverbial bushels. Let’s come clean, speak up not only for our very precious aptitudes but let’s rejoice in the aspects of our jobs that we really enjoy.

But first, a quick word on stereotypes. Of course, they do exist. Take Myers Briggs. Many of you will be familiar with MBTI personality testing. You may even know what type you are. But did you know that a substantial proportion of accountants fall into only two of the 16 psychological types identified. Remarkable when you consider that if the 16 personality profiles were randomly distributed, each type should occur only approximately 6% of the time. And some of the other types seldom appear in the accounting profession at all despite occurring in substantial numbers in the general population.

Let me put you out of your misery. Drum roll, please...
As an accountant you are highly likely to be ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) or ESTJ (Extroversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging.

Quick translation:

• Don’t confuse extroversion with extroversion. Extroverts are the life and soul of the party; that’s not what we mean here. Rather extroverts prefer the outer world of people and things while introverts prefer the inner world of ideas and concepts.
• ‘S’ denotes a preference for sensing (S) over intuition (N). Or a preference to take in information that is real and tangible. This supports, for instance, the idea that “accounting types” may be predisposed to organise data in a sequential, step-by-step manner.
• Thinking (T) over feeling (F) suggests a logical, objective approach to problem solving.
• Judging (J), not to be confused with judgemental, implies structure, organisation, getting things done
  Studies suggest that most accountants are perceived, and report themselves, to base judgments on impersonal analysis and logic (thinking), to prefer a planned and orderly life (judging), are most comfortable dealing with known facts (sensing), and to be more at ease when working with ideas (introversion) or people (extroversion).

Starting to sound familiar? Starting to sound rather impressive?

Below is a sample of the sometimes strange views of us from outside the profession.

Accountants are obsessed by numbers
Actually ‘obsessed’ is an understatement. More a belief that we eat, breathe and excrete numbers, not to mention a tendency towards perverse numerical arousal.

Fact or fiction? Well I do admit to being more than a little fond of numbers. Given a choice I’ll assign a probability. I like hard quantitative measures rather than the softer variety. I’m not coy in admitting that being in ‘the zone’ for me has evolved from balancing a set of accounts to figuring out some html code or losing myself in an entrancing sudoku challenge.

‘Accountant' and 'work/life balance’: a contradiction in terms
What is it a about the accountancy profession that is synonymous with long hours? When I mention to outsiders that I help accountants improve their work/life balance, I’m often treated to howls of laughter. Prising through the mirth to try and get a handle on the source of the humour, what I get back is, ‘but it’s a contradiction in terms’.

There is a deep public perception of the accountant entrenched in the long hours culture, ultra diligent, wedded to their job. Well that’s not so wrong now, is it?
Accountants are boring: it’s not something you dream about as a kid. Is it?(Yes well, I did, actually).

Boring? Do they mean: strong sense of duty; extremely dependable; organised and methodical; generally succeeding at any task; high perseverance level; possessing deep honesty and integrity; strong concentration; very hard working; refusing to allow obstacles to get in the way of performing duties; inputting tremendous amounts of energy into doing any task which they see as important to fulfilling a goal; enjoy working alone, but work well in teams as the situation demands; accountable for personal actions; huge respect and capacity for facts, inclining towards perfectionism; excellent ability to take any task and define it, organize it, plan it, and implement it through to completion; tendency for under appreciating one's own achievements, and massive amounts of potential?

That’s an MBTI description of the STJ type. If that’s what they mean by boring, then that’s fine by me.

No sense of humour
They say an accountant’s idea of fun is drinking directly from the water fountain or running complicated programmes on the photocopier. Eh? They are, of course, clearly having a laugh.

It was Ken Dodd’s, attorney George Carman who observed ‘some accountants are comedians, but comedians are never accountants’. Stand tall, comrades.(By the way, did you know that the two professions share a saint? You'd better believe it! Just google: accountants+comedians+St Lawrence Jewry).

Do you know why they say all this? It’s crystal clear. They’re jealous. Who wouldn’t want such a fine list of characteristics, talents and endowments? It’s my personal philosophy that you’ll get a much higher return on your investment in perfecting a quality or skill that you’re organically good at, rather than medicating a weakness into something that’s just not natural to you. So, accountants unite, and let’s get working those assets.

The time for self-deprecation is over. I want you to stand tall, celebrate, and come clean. Share with the like-minded what you love about the job and be proud. I don’t mind telling you how much I’ve enjoyed writing this piece: it's certainly given me the feel-good factor. Have you got it too?

Carol McLachlan, FCA is a chartered accountant, executive coach and NLP practitioner.

www.theaccountantscoach.com [1]