Bean counter

A bean counter is in short a slang for an account, commonly of a company. This term however is usually associated with derogatory description of an accountant who is overly fixated with accurate calculations and ignorant of other matters. This term was coined in the mid-1970s in the United States. The initial meaning was simply an account. The first time it appeared on print was in a 1975 Forbes magazine that wrote about "a smart, tightfisted and austere 'bean counter' accountant from rural Kentucky." Since then the word has been a degrading term. The slang emphasizes the uptightness of accountants with accuracy as though they need to count everything including trivial and insignificant items like beans. People often associate negative ideas with accountants because they are in charge of money affairs which tend to not always benefit the common people. Furthermore, bean counters tend to be portrayed as so endorsed in their work they fail to "see the "big picture"" of life. Now the word is a derogatory slang used to usually speak negatively of accounts . For example, they are often blamed for being responsible for cuts in the financial state or federal budget.

References:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-bean-counter.htm
http://www.word-detective.com/081100.html