Many years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I went through a battery of aptitude tests. I had not chosen a college yet, let alone determined a major for college. I scored high on the IQ type tests, but didn't really buckle down in high school for the best of grades. I still took every math and science class offered. The school had been given an opportunity for free aptitude testing for people like me, from, of all sources, the US Army.
Anyway, I scored extremely high in mechanical skills. The person that administered the tests told me that there were three main topics that I should do well in, all requiring similar attributes. All required an analytical mind.
The three topics are Mechanic, Engineer, and Accountant.
Would I like a good accountant on my audit team? You bet. If he could make it through accounting school, pass the CPA exam, and complete internship with one of the (at that time) Big Eight accounting firms, I have no doubt that they could see if an engineer kept good records.
What is really neat is when you have an accountant that also has either some engineering background or some mechanical background as well.
Accountants can get way off track as badly as any other group though. Especially when they don't get the right exposure to the rest of the company. It is when the accountants overran the engineers that General Motors started their deep nose dive that led to their bankruptcy.
But many accountants have the ability to be exceptional quality management system auditors and should not be ignored.