Counting house

Counting house

A counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By a synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed. The term is British in origin and is primarily used in the context of the 19th century or earlier periods.

The term occurs in the well-known English nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence. It also appears in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens and Deadeye Dick, by Kurt Vonnegut.