9 Movies Accountants and Bookkeepers Must Watch
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Work can often be overwhelming and challenging, especially for accountants and bookkeepers. Working with numbers for days upon weeks straight takes its toll.
So, it’s important to take a break—check out our 10 Ways to Optimize Productivity at Work blog post—so you can enjoy your life, maintain a work-life balance, and efficiently accomplish every work task you need to. Movies are a fantastic way to alleviate any stress or pressure you might be facing—whether at work or in another area of your life.
But maybe you might be feeling guilty for taking a break (even though you shouldn’t since everyone needs breaks every once in a while). At Uncat, we’ve compiled a list of 9 movies all accountants and bookkeepers must watch, so you can relax, take a break, and enjoy a film while also being productive and engaging about your industry!
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Considered one of the greatest movies of all time, this classic by Frank Darabont falls into the interest of accountants and bookkeepers since the main character—Andy Dufresne—is a skilled bookkeeper who is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and her lover. While in prison, he assists the prison warden with his tax returns—obscure tax loopholes—and helps out others in the prison, and, in return, receives extra protection and his life untouched. Once he escapes from the prison, he exposes the warden for years of corrupt, illegal bookkeeping. The movie illustrates how Dufresne attempts to save himself from falling into vicious prison life through his bookkeeping and financial knowledge.
This film was nominated for Best Picture, and Morgan Freeman was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1995 Oscars.
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
The comedy-drama production stars Harold Crick—played by Will Ferrell—an IRS agent who suddenly hears a voice narrating his life. At one point, it is stated that Harold will soon die, and the movie follows Harold as he frantically attempts to prevent this terrible ending. What we love about the movie is how it pushes the narrative of how important it is to live your life to the fullest. For accountants, the takeaway is that there is wonder and happiness to be found outside of your job, and number-crunching doesn’t define your life—unlike what many outsiders to the industry tend to believe.
The film was nominated for numerous awards, including Will Ferrell’s nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, and it even won Best Original Screenplay at the National Board of Review Awards.
The Accountant (2016)
This action-thriller film recommendation might be a no-brainer, given the title of the movie. This movie circles the life of a CPA who, after being caught by the FBI for helping illegal companies experiencing internal embezzlement manipulate their financial records, seeks to outsmart the RBI through other areas of illegal and legal work. Christian Wolff—played by Ben Affleck—tackles taxes and other accounting problems, which, despite the illegal nature of many of Wolff’s actions, accountants can relate to. This movie takes the accounting industry to another level of intensity and drama, making accountancy look more appealing, dangerous, and thrilling than you might think.
Though this film received mixed reviews and wasn’t nominated for many awards, we still love how it turns accounting into a face-paced journey for viewers.
The Insider (1999)
The Insider is a fictionalized account of a true story based on the 60 Minutes segment about Jeffrey Wigand. Wigand was a whistleblower in the tobacco industry. The film, a study of the ethics in the often corrupt industries of tobacco and journalism, dives into how the company functioned and its politics. On one side, Jeffrey Wigand—played by Russel Crowe—is reluctant to violate contractual agreements to expose the company’s inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes. On the other side, Lowell Bergman—played by Al Pacino—desperately wants to report Wigand’s story against CBS News’ wishes. The movie shows how the two must struggle to overcome the courts and corporations that stand between them and expose the truth, while Wigand battles with maintaining his family and personal life amidst the lawsuits, threats, and legal drama.
We love to recommend this movie to accountants because it illustrates how accountants are forced to encounter difficult situations and make tough decisions on a daily basis. This field isn’t for the faint of heart, as finances drive so much of our individual lives as well as the lives of businesses and corporations at the heart of our economy. The film drives home the message of how accountants face hard choices and must make the right decision, even when facing pressure from others or when it’s not the best thing to do for a business.
The Insider was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Mann), Best Actor (Russel Crowe), and Best Screenplay - Based on Material Previously Produced or Published at the 2000 Academy Awards, and was also nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama at the 200 Golden Globes.
Midnight Run (1988)
This action-comedy film depicts a comical chase primarily between Jack Walsh—an ex-cop and a bounty hunter—and Jonathan Mardukas (“The Duke”)—a former Mafia accountant who stole $15 million from Walsh and evaded a $450,000 bail posted for him. But to make matters more complicated, the FBI and Mardukas’s former mob boss are after Mardukas as well by jumping bail after being under arrest for robbery. This comedic action film is a must-watch, as the antagonistic chemistry between De Niro (Jack Walsh) and Charles Grodin (“The Duke”) makes this entertaining twist to an accountant’s life uncommonly entertaining.
The movie was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Actor for Rober De Niro at the 46th Golden Globe Awards.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
This documentary film is based on the same-named 2003 book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind that shook the accounting world. The documentary film follows the 2001 collapse of the Enron Corporation, resulting in criminal trials for top executives in the company, the involvement of Enron traders in instigating the 2001 California electricity crisis, and their off-the-books accounting and fake holdings to fool regulators. Like any documentary film, this movie utilizes archival footage and interviews with the authors of the book, former Enron executives/employees, former California Governor Gray Davis, and others. This movie is a stellar example of modern corporate corruption and how using underhanded dealings and illegal accounting and bookkeeping to bring in money and keep their jobs will ruin lives and businesses.
This movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, and it won Best Documentary Screenplay at the 58th Writers Guild of America Awards.
All the Queen’s Horses (2017)
This documentary investigates how a city comptroller in Illinois stole $37,000 a day for two decades, leading up to $53 million in total, and left public infrastructure in collapse. Rita Crundwell, now the perpetrator of the largest case of municipal fraud in US history, is the focus of this fascinating film. Crundwell—well known for her lavish lifestyle as a quarter horse breeder—was arrested in 2012, and the movie follows her story. We recommend this documentary movie to accountants and bookkeepers because it’s fascinating and astounding to see how the blatant negligence of auditors and bankers can lead to horrific situations of embezzlement of public tax dollars.
This film won the HBO Spotlight Award for Best Documentary in 2017 at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival and the Golden Laurels Award at the 2018 Beloit International Film Festival.
Inside Job (2010)
Another documentary all accountants should watch is this 2008 documentary by Charles Ferguson. The movie examines the circumstances that led to the fall of the US economy in 2008, during which millions of US citizens lost their jobs, houses, and families. Importantly, this film demonstrates how this financial crisis could have been avoided and the financial condition of the US, as well as other countries, were devastated by this global recession, showing how one act of corruption can lead to a chain reaction of millions losing everything while a few individuals collect their immense wealth. Notably, this documentary also explains how Wall Street, investment trading, and loans work, so even if you or a friend aren’t familiar with this side of finance, you can still enjoy this movie.
This film won Best Documentary at the Academy Awards in 2011 and was nominated for numerous other film critics awards.
In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts (2006)
This 2006 documentary demonstrates the importance of accounting and remaining out of debt, especially for younger generations, and how debt has devastating long-term effects like dramatic wealth inequality. This film dives into the economic and political policies that turned the US economy from relying on manufacturing to depending on consumerism and debt. This film critically looks at how the US economy operates on borrowed money and time, and the film reveals that it's only a matter of time before the system fails and collapses. Accounting and finance have never been more necessary and critical to the US economy, even for an issue that’s almost invisible yet massive in its impact.
Conclusion
We hope you check out at least one of these movies, as this collection of movies will inspire you in some way or another—whether that’s to be more productive at work, learn more about your industry, apply a new process or idea to your business or practice, or even find another side of accounting to work in.
Did you read through this list of movies and not see your favorite accounting movie? Let us know your favorite accounting movie, and we’ll happily add it to our list (we always need new accounting and bookkeeping media to consume).
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