Explaining the Ending of ‘The Accountant’: The Significance of the Painting

If you missed the Ben Affleck movie The Accountant, which came out in theaters in 2016, good news: The Accountant is now streaming on Netflix.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor, with a screenplay by Bill Dubuque, The Accountant stars Affleck as a sort of autistic superhero figure. (Some autism advocacy groups praised the film’s portrayal of the wide-ranging neurological disorder, while others members of the community condemned it.)  The movie was a box office hit when it opened in 2016, and then found a second life on digital platforms, including the subscription streaming service Apple TV+. Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Amazon Studios had a landed a deal a sequel to The Accountant, acquiring the movie from Warner Bros. Most of the original cast will be returning.

The Accountant will doubt find a large audience on Netflix, which means quite a few people will be watching the movie this week and wondering: What does it mean, what does it all mean?

Don’t worry, Decider is here to help. Read on for a full breakdown of The Accountant plot summary and The Accountant ending explained, including what that painting in The Accountant means.

The Accountant plot summary:

A man who goes by the alias Christian Wolff (Affleck) is a highly skilled accountant, who handles the books for criminal clients. We learn via flashbacks that Christian is autistic. He is sensitive to light, sound, and physical touch, and has a compulsive need to finish a task once he’s began. His mother abandons Christian and his younger brother, leaving both kids with their ruthless, military father (Rob Treveile). Dear old Dad decides the best way to “cure” Christian of his autism is to relentlessly expose him to the light, noise, and touch that triggers him. Oh, and also to train him and his brother in martial arts and encouraging them to use violence to solve all conflict. What could possibly go wrong?

As an adult, Christian is hired to audit a firm called Living Robotics, which creates robotic prosthetics for amputees. The Living Robotics in-house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) found a discrepancy in the books, and now Christian needs to find out whether she just made a mistake, or if the discrepancy is real. Christian quickly discovers that someone has embezzled over $60 million from the company. He informs the company’s CEO’s sister, Rita (Jean Smart), but tells her he doesn’t know who was stealing. That same night, a mysterious hitman (Jon Bernthal) pays a visit to Living Robotics CFO Ed Chilton (Andy Umberger) and forces him to overdose on insulin. So, apparently it was that guy who was stealing?

The next day at work, Living Robotics CEO Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) erases all of Christian’s work (before he was done with it!) and tells him the job is done, and to leave. Christian is later attacked by hitmen, and learns they will target Dana next. But she was so nice to him! She liked art, too! He manages to save her, and takes her to his safe haven in a mobile trailer home, which is filled with original artwork, including a Jackson Pollack painting. We know this painting means a lot to Christian, thanks to a phone conversation he has with a mysterious British woman, who uses an artificial voice simulator and operates as Christian’s “guy in the chair.” We will later learn that these original art works are Christian’s preferred form of payment.

After Christian discovers that Rita has also been killed, he tells Dana that he suspects CEO Lamar Blackburn is actually the one who has been stealing. He’d hired Christian in the hopes that he wouldn’t find the booking discrepancy, which would mean his crime was adequately hidden, and he could go public with his company. Unfortunately, Christian did find the discrepancy, so now Blackburn is having everyone who knows about the embezzlement killed. And Christian and Dana are the last targets on the list.

While all this is going on, the Treasury Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Ray King (J.K. Simmons) assigns a young agent at his department, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), a new job: She must track down the identity of the mysterious accountant who has appeared in the background of multiple criminal cases over the years. The accountant, is, of course, Christian. Agent Medina eventually does track down his identity. King reveals that he knows Christian Wolff and has been accepting tips from him as an FBI informant. He wants Medina to keep taking tips from Wolff after he retires.

This story comes with a whole convoluted backstory about how Wolff once spared King’s life, and also befriended another FBI informant, Jeffrey Tambor, in prison. King felt guilty that he didn’t protect Tambor, so now he protects Christian Wolff. Also, the reason Christina went to prison is because he and his father went to their estranged mother’s funeral, a fight broke out, and Christian’s father died to protect Christian. It’s a whole complicated thing!

Medina says she can’t accept tips from a murderer and criminal… but then the phone rings. It’s Wolff’s British woman handler, with a tip about the fraud committed by Living Robotics CEO Lamar Blackburn. Will she take the tip?

Meanwhile, Christian hunts down Lamar, determined to kill him before he can kill Dana. Lamar protects himself with an elite team of hitmen, led by Jon Bernthal, aka Braxton. But when Braxton sees the guy he’s been hired to take down… he realizes it’s his long lost brother. The two brothers reunite, and Christian apologizes for disappearing. He tells him he didn’t want to put Braxton in danger by getting him involved with his dangerous clients. Christian also kills Lamar, which Braxton seems fine with. Christian promises to call his brother soon.

The Accountant ending explained:

At the end of the movie, we return to the special facility for kids with autism—Harbor Neuroscience—where a young Christian Wolff was taken at the beginning of the movie. It’s revealed that Christian’s “guy in a chair” is actually the facility owner’s autistic daughter, whom Christian once met as a young boy. She is entirely non-verbal, but she uses a fancy computer and a voice simulator to communicate.

As for Medina, she took over King’s role and holds a press conference about the investigation into the Living Robotics fraud case. Apparently, she agreed to take tips from Christian Wolff after all!

What does the painting in The Accountant ending mean?

In the final scene of the movie, Dana receives a special delivery in the mail. It’s a painting of “Dogs Playing Poker,” a painting she had discussed with Christian. But then Dana realizes there is another painting inside the painting: The original Jackson Pollack, which she had admired in Christian’s trailer. Obviously, that painting is worth a lot of money—but more importantly, it meant a lot to Christian. So the fact that Christian gave that painting to Dana means that he really, really likes her. Awww.

In the final scene of the movie, we see Christian driving away in his mobile home. What happens next? Well, you’ll just have to wait for The Accountant 2 to find out.