As he is perennially wont to do, David Letterman commemorated the end of tax season with a Top 10 list, this time featuring a group of accountants listing the top 10 lessons they have learned as accountants.
Of course, the "lessons" were ridiculous. "White out and 7-Up. Curiously refreshing." "You do the taxes, don't let the taxes do you." "Numbers is hard." "Women want me. Men want to be me."
Like most of Letterman's humor, this was innocuous poking fun at an easy target. Beneath the good fun, however, lurked a totally obsolete stereotype of the profession. An iconic Gen Xer really should know better.
So to help correct the record, here is TCPA's Top 10 Things Wrong with Letterman’s Top 10 Things About Being an Accountant.
10. The accountants were only from the New York area. They were all Yankees and Mets fans.
9. With one or two exceptions the accountants were not good looking. Almost all CPAs are
attractive; those that aren't, are striking.
8. Only two of the accountants were women. Since 1986 over 50% of accounting graduates have been female.
7. Except for an Hispanic woman, all the others were white and possibly Jewish. (There were even two
Cohens!) So much for diversity in the profession.
6. All were labeled accountants, not CPAs. Maybe none were CPAs. That might help explain the lameness of the jokes.
5. Not one was wearing a green eyeshade. What good is a stereotype without the appropriate gear?
4. There are so many great accounting jokes. Why didn't they steal at least one? Better yet, why not
feature John Garrett, a CPA and stand-up comic?
3. One of the accountants was a dead ringer for Matthew Broderick. Letterman got some mileage out of this but why didn't he mention Broderick played an accountant in "The Producers?" He lost serious pop culture cred on that one.
2. I don't think these were real accountants. Not one looked durable enough to survive even a mild tax season.
1. Where was Letterman's own accountant? (She's probably a CPA in Indiana.)
No doubt Letterman will roll out another Top Ten after next year's tax season. Let's hope the presentation is a little more authentic and a lot funnier.
Hello,
My name is Peter Scherer and I am working for a PR business. We are currently putting together a blog for a client and were wondering if it would be possible to exchange links with their blog at http://cookcpa.blogspot.com/ and yours. Thanks,
Peter Scherer, Intern
Posted by: Peter Scherer | May 12, 2009 at 07:02 PM