Santino Morena (BBA17) has a few titles. He is an associate director at MorrisAnderson consulting in Chicago. He is the 2025 Tippie Young Alum of the Year. And now, he can add movie reviewer to the list.
This summer and fall, Morena watched a handful of movies featuring accountants and has rated them for
you, both in general and in how they portray the industry.
Have you seen them all?
“I travel a lot for work , so I see this as a good, easygoing movie to watch on a plane. It’s not too heavy; there’s some action and jokes. The premise is that Kevin Hart and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s characters knew each other from high school, are reunited, and Hart gets roped into helping prove Johnson’s innocence. You don’t see very much accounting, though. It’s mainly that Hart’s character is based on the stereotype of a boring accountant.”
General Enjoyability: 3/5 stars
Realistic Accounting: 2/5 Excel spreadsheets
“This movie starring Ben Affleck as accountant Christian Wolff is realistic in that a company looking at possible fraud brings in an accountant for forensic analysis. It’s weird that it is entrusted to just one person, usually it would take a whole team weeks, but he uses his skills to uncover the fraud. I also have a connection to this movie. One of the characters is named after my mom’s friend—her cousin was one of the writers.”
General Enjoyability: 4.5/5 stars
Realistic Accounting: 5/5 Excel spreadsheets
“In this sequel, Ben Affleck’s character is trying to save a young kid by helping the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. There’s one scene where he’s walking through a pizza factory and
they’re asking what the revenue and margins are and he does the math in his head of how many pizza boxes they use yearly, basing it on the number of slices sold. It was a con, and he caught it, but other than that, there’s no real accounting in the movie. All the skills he had in the first movie do not exist. He just becomes an
action hero.”
General Enjoyability: 2/5 stars
Realistic Accounting: 0/5 Excel spreadsheets
“ Shawshank is a brilliant, absolutely incredible movie with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Robbins’ character is framed for murdering his wife, gets sent to prison, and uses accounting to find a way out. He is an individual who’s clever, bright, and able to use skills he learned in his career to create a better future for himself. It’s set in the 1940s to 1970s, so they’re doing all the books by hand… in literal books. The movie is just so well done in terms of accounting and reminds me of stories that partners have told of when they first started their
careers, using huge sheets of paper and rulers.”
General Enjoyability: 5/5 stars
Realistic Accounting: 5/5 Excel spreadsheets
“This is a fun romantic comedy starring Will Smith as a relationship coach and Kevin James as an accountant at a large firm with rich celebrity clientele. James falls in love with one of his clients and is coached to be unique and say something different in a meeting when everyone else is just appeasing. Risk taking is something many accountants struggle with, but he takes a risk and does get her attention. I dock it one Excel spreadsheet because he crosses boundaries by speaking up as a junior, and it’s a very bold move to quit in a client meeting. Not very believable. But a good movie.”
General Enjoyability: 5/5 stars
Realistic Accounting: 4/5 Excel spreadsheets
This article appeared in the 2025 issue of Iowa Ledger.