bean-countern.
/ˈbiːnkaʊntə/ colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.).
An accountant, esp. one who compiles statistical records or accounts; also applied contemptuously to financial planners or statisticians. Hence, a person excessively concerned with accounts or figures.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > [noun] > keeper of accounts
accountera1400
teller1434
countrel?1475
reasoner1509
accountant1539
chequer-man?1577
computist1583
rational1610
actuary1769
account keeper1797
tallyman1857
number cruncher1971
bean-counter1975
1975 Interfaces Feb. 74 (title) The measure of M.S./O.R. applications; or, Let's hear it for the bean counters.
1982 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 Nov. 86/2 Tension between engineers and marketing specialists..and financial experts, derided as ‘bean counters,’ are [sic] endemic in the automobile business.
1986 Independent 29 Nov. 17/1 The highly respected beancounters at Price Waterhouse have failed to recognise that times are changing in the City.
1991 Observer 7 July 20/8 I think they are all parsimonious, cheese-paring, gut-scrimping bean-counters.
1992 Chicago Tribune 22 Dec. i. 1/5 Bill Clinton..angrily derided as ‘bean counters’ leaders of national women's groups who complained that he has nominated too few women to his administration.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1997; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1975