It means that they are accountants or that they are bureaucrats who pay attention to little details. Some people use that word to mean that the person they're talking about is fixated on details, dots the i's the t's and the x's.
can be somebody who is stingy or miserly with money (think Scrooge).. also accountants can be referred to as beancounters (where beans is money)
Bean counters are accountants.
Suppose you were a bean farmer. After the harvest you would store all you beans in a large silo. Would it really matter to you how many beans were in the silo? If you lost one or two beans would that be a concern? People who obsess over inconsequential details are often referred to as BEANCOUNTERS. As others have said, accountants have a reputation for being overly concerned with details that matter only to themselves which makes them the chief example of BEANCOUNTERS.
