Summary

• The number 3 in The Accountant is more than a superstition; it's grounded in Benford's Law for fraud detection.
• Christian Wolff's unique perspective uncovers fraudulent transactions, using his obsession with the numeral 3.
• Surprisingly, The Accountant accurately portrays the tedious process of forensic accounting, balancing action with realism.

In the 2016 film The Accountant, Ben Affleck's Christian Wolff has an obsession with the number 3, which helps the certified public accountant detect fraud. As a result, Wolff makes a living by "uncooking" the books — that is, pointing out and sanitizing fraudulent financial records. His obsession with numbers and ability to detect both red flags and patterns allows Wolff to bring down international criminal and terrorist organizations that are dealing with internal embezzlement. Needless to say, the character's shockingly risky line of work pushes him to use the Christian Wolff alias to stay safe.

True to the typical action-thriller formula, however, Christian is also a highly skilled martial artist. When he was a child, Christian's mother abandoned the family because she was unable to care for her autistic son. Christian's father is the one who steps in, encouraging Christian to confront what triggers him rather than avoid said stimuli. This all leads Christian to work with criminal clientele who want him to perform audits and root out potential turncoats. Interestingly, it's Wolff's obsession with the number 3 that helps him succeed in Ben Affleck's 2016 thriller The Accountant.

Why Christian Found The Number "3" Suspicious In The Accountant

The Unusual Frequency Of The Numeral Catches Christian Wolff's Attention

In the past, Christian Wolff found patterns triggering — until his father encouraged him to lean into his unique perspective and observations. To illustrate this for movie audiences, The Accountant draws particular attention to the number 3. Throughout the film, the script's repeated use of "three" underscores a leading theory behind fraudulent number detection: Benford's Law. However, to hammer this point home for viewers, the numeral pops up time and again. Christian sees it while he's searching through Living Robotics' accounting records for irregularities, but the number three also crops up elsewhere, like The Accountant's use of 3 paintings.

While it may seem like a movie trick, the frequency of the number three in the company's dollar values is a real-life indicator of fraud...

Ultimately, the unusual frequency of the number 3, and the way the numeral stands out to Christian Wolff, clues him into a series of suspicious transactions. Not only that, but the company's revenue is growing while its profit margin falls. Unable to find anything that would increase the company's costs so substantially, Christian identifies the core problem. While it may seem like a movie trick, the frequency of the number three in the company's dollar values is a real-life indicator of the fraud issues at play, though Christian favors his intuition over a fraud-detecting computer program.

The Accountant's "3" Obsession Is Based On Benford's Law

A Real-Life Mathematical Principle Grounds Ben Affleck's Thriller

As mentioned, The Accountant introduces Benford's Law into Christian Wolff's work, which adds a layer of realism to the movie's events. The mathematical law states that when it comes to numbers — including in account transactions — the probability of a number occurring (and reoccurring) naturally drops as "one moves from smaller numbers to the larger numbers following a logarithmic scale" (via Scientific American). The law is used by forensic accountants to detect fraudulent behavior. The numeral 3 stands out to The Accountant's cast of characters because it disrupts the predictable, natural distribution of numbers posited by Benford's Law.

The Accountant is streaming on Netflix as of April 2024.

What Real Experts Have Said About The Accountant's Mathematics Accuracy

The Accountant Gets A Lot Right

What may look like a random sequence of numbers is actually a predictable pattern, insofar as numbers are predictably unpredictable; too much of any reoccurring digit in a data set can be a huge red flag to accountants. Often, real-life forensic accountants use computer programs to analyze data sets and flag these issues, but some are well-versed in spotting suspicious activities. From the terminology The Accountant uses to the steps Affleck and Anna Kendrick's characters take, the movie's mathematical sequences and logic are more sounds than its action-thriller moments (via The Wrap), making The Accountant worth watching.

The Accountant's numbers might add up too well...

In some ways, The Accountant's numbers might add up too well. Often, police procedurals or espionage shows cut out a lot of the paperwork and desk-based research involved in the real-life jobs, titling the scales in favor of an agent's field work. Meanwhile, The Accountant has Affleck elbows-deep in boxes of ledgers, which likely prompted the filmmakers to balance the true-to-life conference room scenes with some wild doses of action. Ultimately, The Accountant does a solid job of chronicling how accountants piece together fraud, thus making the case for Affleck's sequel, The Accountant 2.

Sources: Scientific American, The Wrap