Is Prof Albrecht An Accounting Nerd?

William Brighenti of The Barefoot Accountant blog asks, “Are You an Accounting Nerd?”  As a professor, I deal with words and interesting (and not so interesting) ideas.  Maybe there’ s something here.  Hmmm …

Part of the accounting field?  Check.  Nerd?  Certainly not me.  Maybe I should look up the definition just to be sure.

• The Free Online Dictionary:  A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.    Yeah, so what’s your point?
• Dictionary.com:  an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit.  Playing solitaire versions of computer games is what I’m good at.
• Merriam-Webster:  an unstylish, unattractive or socially inept person, especially: one devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.  Unkempt is de rigueur in academia.
• Wikipedia on “nerd”:  a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age-inappropriate, rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers, or will tend to associate with like-minded people.  It is not age-inappropriate.

Is “accounting nerd” an oxymoron?  Or is it two redundant words?  Better take the quiz to find out.

1. Do you examine your sales receipt before you leave the register, adding it up in your mind to verify its accuracy, even though twenty people are behind you waiting in line and the store is closing?

Everything is added up in my head before getting to the register, including sales tax (sales tax rates from every state are memorized).  If the amount I am charged is incorrect (I never am)  ….   Better answer yes to this one.

2. At the register of a retail or grocery store, do you tick and vouch each item on the receipt to the actual goods in your carriage?

Yes, before leaving the sales register.

3. When you go out to lunch with others, when the check arrives, do you wip out your calculator and tally up each individual’s share to the penny, including tip and tax?

Done mentally at the time we place our orders.  Yes.

4. When your spouse borrows money from you, do you
a. Charge her/him interest
b. Compound the interest daily
c. None of the above

C. She never charged me interest.  As a true nerd, I never thought far enough ahead to go to ATM.

5. Did your tax filing status influence the timing of your wedding date?

No, my nerdiness influenced the wedding date.  Quickly got married before she could change her mind.

6. On your honeymoon, did you select a Caribbean resort offering a CPE course in order to deduct its cost?

The CPE course was in Des Moines, and she didn’t want to go there.

7. During tax season, do you
a. Bring your laptop to bed
b. Have sex via remote access
c. Practice celibacy
d. A and b
e. None of the above

I tried A, but spouse would have none of it.

8. On your office desk, do you have a picture of Spock from Star Trek?

I have hung a classic Monopoly board on the wall.  Yes!

9. Do you reconcile your personal savings account bank statement every month in QuickBooks, even though the only transaction is an interest posting?

Someone does it for me.  Debits on the bank statement are too depressing.

10. Out in the field on audit assignments, when you discover a client error requiring an adjusting entry, do you scream “gotcha”, and dance around the table singing “We are the champions of the world”?

Yes.  But I’ve never been flagged for taunting.

11. Do you eat lunch at your desk, dropping your food in your keyboard, and continue typing with ketchup and grease on your fingers?

I can open mouth, insert food, chew, swallow, and type at the same time.  It is inefficient to do one thing at a time.

Ok, what am I?  Yes:  1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, plus 4C and 7A.

Surprise!  I’m an accounting nerd.

Debit and credit – - David Albrecht