Ernst & Whinney audit bag. This bag was purchased in 1979, shortly before Jim Silvestri joined the firm of Ernst & Whinney in Newark, N.J. Silvestri was the most junior member of a team and used the bag in the early 1980s. To secure their paperwork, auditors used a small lock on the brass latch.

CPA stamps. In September 1987, the U.S. Postal Service released a 22-cent stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the accounting profession. Provided by Gordon Adler, CPA, Vienna, Va.

Abacus. The abacus has been used for mathematical calculations for more than 5,000 years. Merchants, traders, and clerks in parts of Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa still use them. This abacus is from Russia, where Gayle Greenlee, CPA, of San Diego, purchased it in the mid-1990s. At the time, Greenlee was managing a project for Price Waterhouse that involved helping newly privatized Russian corporations implement financial accounting and reporting systems to facilitate the audit process, transparency, and financial reporting requirements for shareholders and investors. While in Russia, she visited a Moscow market where a salesclerk was using the abacus to tally sales and make change for customers. Greenlee talked the clerk into selling it. “I thought it was fascinating,” she said.