As we noted here, the Accounting Café’s Toby York, recently asked: “Could accounting, a field too significant to be left solely to accountants, also be a compelling drama if given a chance? What would be the dramatic narrative?” I passed on some examples provided by others, but failed to pitch in with any of my own, so let’s remedy that this time. As you will see, no genre is off-limits!

Accounting Shrink Revolves around Walter Klutnik, a psychotherapist specializing in accounting-related disorders and traumas, and his ever-changing roster of clients. Early episodes focus on Maria, an accounting firm partner who can only find sexual satisfaction from listening to passages from IFRIC agenda decisions being read out loud, and Francis, a corporate controller who develops an obsessive hatred of the number 49 and will stop at no amount of manipulation, adjustment or outright fraud to stop it appearing anywhere in his reports or work product.

Standard Battles Set in the recent past, this drama revolves around a family business applying IFRS 16 for the first time., divided between those who want to apply the standard as fairly and transparently as possible, and those convinced that the perceived greater leverage will fatally hurt the business. The fight for supremacy takes in dueling interpretations and judgments, falsified records, bribed counterparties, all intertwining with personal and sexual shenanigans and fireworks. Should the show be successful (and how could it not be), subsequent seasons move on to the battered but still shakily intact family’s equally toxic battles over IFRS 18, and onwards.

Ghost in the Double Entry A high-concept show in which Nathan, a preparer of financial statements, starts to notice computational errors creeping into his work, with even the most basic Excel spreadsheet sometimes refusing to correctly total. Unable to identify any malfunction of either the hardware or software, he starts to chart the nature and magnitude of the errors, and notices that they fall into consistent and predictable groups based on the financial statement line item to which they relate. He eventually realizes that this constitutes a kind of code, and that the errors form hidden message to which he devises a way to respond, thus finding his way to Barnard, an accountant who was murdered in an old cold case and whose tortured soul has found its way into Nathan’s computer. Guided by Barnard, Nathan sets out to find the killer – known only to be an employee of Deloitte – and thereby allow the dead man to find eternal peace.

Bumble This half-hour situation comedy centers on Ligget Bumble, an accident-prone and socially awkward member of the IASB whose missteps constantly cause problems for himself, his colleagues, and the IFRS Foundation as a whole. A typical plotline might have Bumble setting off an international incident by misspeaking at a conference, accidentally pushing the Chair out of the window, causing a press release to go out containing an embarrassing typo (“in this situation, the item should be treated as an expenis…”) or getting intoxicated at an important event and mistaking the Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees for a pickpocket.   

Determined Bastard! This lightly fictionalized account of the invention of double entry accounting follows Luca Pavioli as he fights to realize his vision against seemingly endless obstacles, including toxic personal relationships, corrupt local authorities, marauding street gangs, mysterious supernatural forces, and perhaps most challenging of all, the constant impediment of Luca having “no head for figures.”

Our Conceptual Framework Each episode examines the marriage of David and Nora from the perspective of a different accounting concept. The “Asset” and “Revenue” episodes focus on the benefits and strengths of their union; the “Liability” and “Expense” installments on the inevitable flipside. The “Consolidation” episode explores the complex mechanics of two becoming one; the “Fair Value” episode on the challenges of assessing and appreciating one’s lot in life; the “Presentation” segment on maintaining the image presented to the world. Mild spoiler alert – they make it through the series intact, despite the dramatic traumas of the “Impairment” episode.

Harris Bain, Pioneer Accountant In this distinctive contribution to the Western genre, the newly-minted accountant Bain sets up shop in the frontier town of Deadman’s Teeth, diligently serving the struggling community in its formative days while interacting with a range of colourful characters. While the core of the show is its patient realism – days spent advising dirt-poor ranchers on whether they can afford to feed both the cows and their children; assisting the local blacksmith on pricing horseshoes and other services; assisting the workers at the town brothel in investing their community-leading earnings – the show does contain its share of dramatic action, when for instance Harris is forced at gunpoint to assist a gang of innumerate bandits in counting the takings from their latest bank robbery, with the peril rising when the number is dramatically less than they planned for…

Interested producers may contact me directly. But please, only if you’re serious, and can raise the money!

The opinions expressed (and, more importantly, the world-beating ideas!) are solely those of the author.