Current portrayal of accountants in movies in New Zealand

Abstract

Many accountants find themselves in total contrast to the traditional beancounter accounting stereotype. Previous research of the portrayal of accountants in movies has been done in America up to the year 2000. This research investigates how accountants are portrayed in movies from the year 2000 until 2009 in New Zealand. Accountants are classified into one of five stereotypes based on Dimnik and Felton’s (2006) study of the Dreamer, the Plodder, the Eccentric, the Hero and the Villain. Movies were watched and then analysed to classify the stereotype of each accountant and to find out how society portrays accountants in the current decade. Results show accountants are still being associated with the old boring beancounter image, the Plodder stereotype. These findings indicate that the boring image of accountants has not begun changing, and that accounting disasters such as Enron, have not given accountants a negative image.