Accountants don’t usually feature as the heroes in fiction. Regrettably, they tend to be maligned – cast into the background to quietly clean up for a more reckless protagonist. That said, some authors have braved against tradition and centred a finance professional in their novels.
Here are five fictional accountants from literature who prove that balance sheets and boldness are not mutually exclusive.
🎲 Loser Takes All
Graham Greene may be best known for darker novels like Brighton Rock and The Quiet American, but he also wrote comic stories that drop ordinary people into extraordinary situations. In this novella, Mr. Bertram heads to Monte Carlo with his bride-to-be and discovers a surprising talent for gambling. Turns out, balancing the books is excellent prep for roulette.
Lesson: Accountants make surprisingly good risk-takers – perhaps through recognising it so well.
🪐 Colony
If you were around in the 90s, and are a fan of science fiction, comedy, or vindaloo, you might recognise the name Rob Grant as a creator of the brilliant TV show Red Dwarf. After leaving the show, he turned to novel writing and, for his debut, he chose Eddie O’Hare, a junior accountant, as the hero. Eddie wakes up from stasis on a malfunctioning colony ship crewed by the descendants of a recruiting error, and his accounting brain may be the ship’s last hope.
Lesson: Spreadsheet skills can be a matter of life and death!
🏇 Risk
Queen Elizabeth II was said to be a big fan of Dick Francis, which makes sense because he wrote a lot of books about horses and jockeys. A classic Francis page-turner is Risk, which revolves around a chartered accountant, Roland Britten, who also happens to be a champion steeplechase jockey (no longer part of ICAEW requirements). When Roland is kidnapped, his analytical mind becomes key to escape.
Lesson: Being detail-oriented pays off in spreadsheets and hostage situations.
💵 A Simple Plan
Bill Paxton has played astronauts, cowboys, storm chasers, and even a talking mutant blob (in the cult classic Weird Science). But in the film adaptation of Scott Smith's thrilling novel A Simple Plan, he plays Hank Mitchell, a humble accountant at a feed mill. Hank finds a crashed plane full of money and, like the characters in all these novels, takes a calculated risk. The plan is simple – until it isn’t.
Lesson: When faced with temptation, even accountants need more than financial planning.
🧛 The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant
Drew Hayes may be a lesser-known author on this list, but we couldn't resist including this book. Seductive, dangerous, and unlikely to order garlic bread as a side – these are the usual characteristics we associate with vampires. But a thorough understanding of IFRS 13? Not so much.
Fredrick Frankford Fletcher is a mild-mannered accountant who, after becoming a vampire, discovers that even the undead need reliable spreadsheets and proper tax filings. In this quirky and surprisingly heartwarming series opener, Fred is thrust into monster battles, magic duels, and awkward encounters at high school reunions.
Lesson: Even in a world full of ghouls and goblins, professionalism, integrity, and accurate bookkeeping still matter.
📚 Final Thoughts
All too often, accountants in fiction are bored and bloodless. We obviously know this isn’t true to life, but sometimes it requires a touch of fantasy to draw out the real people behind the financial statements. These books are a testament to the adventurous spirit that so many of us hold.
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