Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by raymondh 1598 days ago
If you just started the service, carefully consider the name of the service. "Bean counter" is a disparaging term that is almost never a compliment.

The first paragraph of https://www.cfo.com/accounting-tax/2007/10/finance-in-histor... explains:

“Bean counting” has long been an insulting term for what finance professionals and accountants do. Often it’s been used to tar CFOs as transaction processors — a role largely relegated to the back office. What’s more, people like to use the phrase to ratchet up the pedestrian aspects of finance by tagging practitioners as “mere” bean counters or “little more than” bean counters or “simply” bean counters. Such clichés get tossed around a lot.

Per https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bean-counter.html , "A disparaging term for an accountant, or anyone excessively concerned with statistical records or accounts."

2 comments

I'm the solo software developer in my company. I share an office with an industrial automation engineer. Our office is called the nerd office. We embrace the disparaging term.
I think the connotation just makes it more memorable.