The Accountant Movie Review--Accounting Spoilers Only!

Welcome back, future accounting superstars!

Action. Romance. Suspense. Am I talking about James Bond, or accounting? The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J.K. Simmons was released in US movie theaters on October 14, 2016. A group of my MAcc classmates went to watch it and we had a really good time. We definitely laughed about the accounting parts after the movie and that gave me the idea to write a movie review. No plot spoilers here--just accounting spoilers!

Accounting Spoiler #1: Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) unethically and illegally advises a tax client. He coerces the client into classifying her necklace-making hobby into a business run from her house. Wolff illegally encourages the client to overstate the square footage of the home office in order to gain a larger tax deduction and to also deduct the client’s vehicle and mileage as business expenses. This is inconsistent with the US Internal Revenue Code and Circular 230, which governs tax preparers in the US.

Practicing tactical skills for The Accountant by playing laser tag

Accounting Spoiler #2: Ray King (JR Simmons) plays the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This organization is incorrectly portrayed as a federal law enforcement agency. FinCEN is part of the US Treasury department and their mission is “to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.” While they do have analysts and specialists performing these important tasks, FinCEN does not have Special Agents with law enforcement powers who work directly for them. Federal law enforcement officers from other agencies are often detailed to FinCEN, but the only law enforcement arm of the US Treasury Department is the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Special Agents.

Accounting Spoiler #3: Christian Wolff (Affleck) is in a conference room trying to figure out where the money went missing. He spends all night working, writing all over the walls and murmuring many account titles to himself. It is unrealistic to assume that someone could solve this forensic accounting puzzle so quickly or without the use of a computer. Wolff does employ Benford’s Law, which is a real forensic accounting technique involving analysis of first digit number frequencies, but a real analysis would require the data to be graphed and analyzed.

Despite a few mistakes in the accuracy of the accounting information, The Accountant is a very entertaining movie and definitely worth a watch! While I was originally drawn by the title, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how the movie unfolded. There was a nice mix of action, plot twists, and accounting to keep things interesting. Go see it as a break from all that GMAT studying and essay writing.

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!