Accountant stereotypes in movies distributed in North America in the twentieth century

We examine the accountant’s image in popular cinema, an influential medium that reflects and shapes social attitudes. After coding 168 characters on 41 characteristics, we use factor analysis to reduce these data to six factors and cluster analysis to identify five stereotypes: Dreamer, Plodder, Eccentric, Hero and Villain. Over time we find an increase in the representation of females, ethnic minorities, CPAs and CAs as movie accountants. Characters with CPAs or CAs are more likely to be Heroes than any other stereotype.