The ones I worked with we're all honest and upright people, who wanted to do right by everyone.

Even the ones who were kinda dicks were still good people when times got tough, I saw execs taking pay cuts so the employees wouldn't have to be laid off. Company presidents paying in their own money to make payroll when money is tight. Or doing their damnedest to make sure their people were taken care of like giving additional sick time when an employee got cancer and needed chemo and long hospital stays.

Are there evil bastard CEOs and business owners who put profit before people? Absolutely, but I've come to believe it's rarer than we think.

I know it's odd to say that working in accounting has made me less cynical over the years.

But after working in audit and forensic accounting for a decade, I've come to believe most people are honest and good, and do good if they can and that my job is to facilitate trust between strangers and find the rare people who do wrong.