With the exception of Carolyn, I've never thought of accountants as having much of a sense of humour. I was wrong. It seems that some of them not only have a sense of humour, but also downright class:
John Lanchester, London Review of Books (05-Feb-04):
'In those six years alone [1992-1997] the News Corp accountants had moved A$4.8 billion of income past the tax authorities in Britain, the United States and Australia.' And then Chenoweth [the author of the book under review] has found, looking at the accounts, that the company's profits, declared in Australian dollars, were A$364,364,000 in 1987, A$464,464,000 in 1988, A$496,496,000 in 1989 and A$282,282,000 in 1990. The odds that such figures were a happy coincidence are 1,000,000,000,000 to one. That little grace note in the sums is accountant-speak for 'Fuck you.' Faced with this level of financial wizardry, all the ordinary taxpayer can do is cry 'Bravo l'artiste!'
