Accountants Are Fun. Really!

Every week, we send out emails loosely organized around taxes. We try to keep them entertaining because we know you don't expect anything from an accountant to be funny! But did you know how many funny, famous, and entertaining people got their start as accountants?

•Comedian Bob Newhart, famed for the dry, deadpan delivery you might expect from an accountant, started his career with US Gypsum. He claimed that his motto, "that's close enough," showed he didn't have the temperament to be an accountant. He also joked that he once worked for the unemployment office making $55 a week — but quit when he learned that unemployment benefits were $45 a week, and he "only had to come into the office one day a week to collect it."

•Novelist John Grisham is famous for his legal thrillers. But he earned a degree in accounting from Mississippi State University.
•Musician Kenny G picked up the saxophone at age 10, and by age 17 was already playing with Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. His future in music looked bright — but he still wanted a backup. So he majored in accounting at University of Washington in Seattle, where he graduated magna cum laude. That business background has apparently served him well, as he was an early investor in Starbucks Coffee.
•Walter Diemer (who?) worked as an accountant for gum and candy maker Fleer. In 1928, he took an unsuccessful formulation called "Blibber-Blubber," added latex, and created what we still know today as Dubble Bubble.
•Former Texas Rangers manager Kevin Kennedy is a CPA. He prepared tax returns for his players to make extra money while he was managing in the minor leagues!
•Former San Francisco 49ers kicker Ray Wersching earned an accounting degree from the University of California at Berkeley and worked as an accountant in the off-season. He went on to run an insurance agency, but wound up indicted for embezzling $8 million in premiums and evading tax on $3.6 million of corporate income! (He ultimately pled guilty to misdemeanor failure to file a corporate tax return and served two years of probation plus six months home detention.)
•There are currently 10 CPAs serving in the US Congress: Rep. John Campbell (R–CA), Rep. Michael Conaway (R–CA), Rep. Bill Flores (R–TX), Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R–TX), Rep. Steven Palazzo (R–MS), Rep. Collin Peterson (D–MN), Rep. Jim Renacci (R–OH) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D–CA), plus Sens. Michael Enzi (R–WY) and Ron Johnson (R–WI). Maybe putting more accountants in Congress would help tame our trillion-dollar deficits!
At our firm, we don't enjoy the fame and fortune of a Bob Newhart or a Kenny G. But we're happy that our focus on proactive planning still sets us apart from the crowd. We're here for you, and for your family, friends, and colleagues too!