Interesting! In the Soviet culture, accountants were seen just that way: as disgustingly boring losers. In part they indeed been, as not being workers (so not b

Interesting! In the Soviet culture, accountants were seen just that way: as disgustingly boring losers. In part they indeed been, as not being workers (so not belonging to the 'hegemonic class' of Communist society according to Marxism, even working on the same factory), they were paid less, had a harder time joining the Party (and thus enjoy access to deficit consumer goods) etc. Today, it is totally opposite. In provincial Russia today, only two professions that are guaranteed to make person a living are programmer (because these can work for Western customers so earn a lot) and an accountant (because these need to cook the books and be really inventive at that, as without it, any business will go bust, system works like that). They are just as respected as programmers are. And the job itself isn't as boring as it used to be because it require a lot of trickery because you usually need to be able to scam several parties at once, not just the government, but also the formal owners.