A statistician or arithmetical clerk in government or business; an accountant; gnome, number cruncher: Even in Britain, the bean counters couldn't tolerate a negative cash flow forever/ The bean counters always spoil our fun
[1970s+; In the mid-1800s a popular comedian called Mose the Bowery Boy ordered pork and beans: ''Say, a large piece of pork, and don't stop to count de beans,'' which became a much-quoted line]