Accountancy: Serving God... one tax return at a time?!?

I recently came across the following accounting firm slogan: "Serving HIM by serving You... one tax return at a time". To people who haven't considered how accounting can serve God this may seem a really strange statement. Is God really interested in tax returns? Can you really serve God by helping others prepare their accounts? This accounting firm clearly thinks so and so do I. Let me explain some reasons why. This will require us to reconsider some basic accounting concepts.

While there are many different types of accounting and accountants, one of the core functions of accounting is accountability.  For example, tax accountants prepare accounts to calculate tax payable to the Inland Revenue and financial accountants prepare reports for shareholders or stakeholders so they can evaluate the use of their capital or other resources. But let's try thinking beyond that.

We know that everyone is ultimately accountable to God. After all everything was created by and belongs to Him. Each of us has been appointed as stewards of His resources and as such one day we will each give an account to God for what we have done with the resources he has entrusted to us (see Romans 14:12; Hebrews 4:13). Of course these resources are not limited to just what we can value financially, but it definitely includes these things.

So try taking a look at a balance sheet now. Really what you are looking at is a financial representation of some of the resources God has entrusted to that person or organisation. Their income represents some of the profit they have returned from God's assets.

A word of caution must be added here—our heavenly balance sheet is quite different from our earthly one. Many accountants see their job as to help maximising the wealth of their clients. But we need to be careful here to remember Jesus' words, "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). In fact quite often we are called to forgo earthly wealth to gain heavenly treasure. A high profit earned from unethical practices is worth much less in God's sight than a small profit earned by just means (See Proverbs 15:16).

If as accountants we can help others to use His assets well we are not only bringing about the Kingdom of God but we are helping them grow as individuals. Jesus said:
"If a person can be trusted with small things, then he can also be trusted with big things. If a person is dishonest in little things, then he will be dishonest in big things too. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then you will not be trusted with the true (heavenly) riches." (ERV) (Luke 16:10-11)