I came up with this brilliant idea after reading about a group of scientists who are convinced that dogs can count.

According to Reuters, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have concluded that dogs know when they are being short-changed on treats because they have a basic mathematical ability that enables them to tell when one pile of objects is higher than another.

New Scientist magazine, which published the researchers’ findings, reported that to count, a dog "has to recognize that each object in a set corresponds to a single number and that the last number in a sequence represents the total number of objects."

Robert Young of Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, tested the theory on 11 mongrels using dog treats.

As explained in the Reuters story, "The canines were shown treats and then a screen was lowered and the goodies were left as they were or some were added or taken away. If a treat was added or taken away, the dogs looked at the treats much longer than they did when the goodies were not disturbed, presumably because they had done their sums and the numbers did not meet their expectations."

As soon as I read this, I knew I had found the answer to the nation’s economic woes, not to mention a sure-fire way of balancing my checkbook: Get rid of all those sleazy human accountants and let man’s best friend do the job.

Think about it: Dogs are honest, loyal and fiercely protective of their territory. They also give unconditional love to their owners, so there is no reason to expect that they wouldn’t do the same for their employers, as well as the stockholders. And they would be a great savings to any company because they would work for practically nothing -- as long, of course, as they weren’t short-changed on treats.

Best of all, they can do math. And without the aid of calculators or computers, which is more than I can say for a lot of humans -- including, unfortunately, myself.

This is why I have such high hopes for Lizzie, who would make a great accountant because, for one thing, she already has a license.

For another, she easily passed the rigorous math test I gave her the other night.

Replicating the research done by the scientists at UC-Davis and confirmed by Prof. Young in Brazil, I took five doggie treats and piled them in front of Lizzie, who was sitting up straight in the family room.

Lizzie looked at the treats and then looked at me, as if to say, "Well, are you going to give me one?"

Then, lacking a screen, I lowered a newspaper in front of the treats and took two of them away, after which I raised the paper to expose the smaller pile.

"How many treats are left?" I asked.

As if counting, Lizzie gave me her paw -- this is absolutely true -- three times.

"Good girl!" I said, giving Lizzie one of the treats as a reward for her fine work.

Now there were four treats left. I put two of them down and let Lizzie look at them. Then I lowered the paper and added the rest. When I raised the paper, I said to Lizzie, "How many treats did I add to the pile?"

Lizzie -- true again -- gave me her paw twice.

I continued in this fashion until there was only one treat left. Lizzie, who answered every question correctly, gave me her paw once. I then gave her the treat, which she chewed enthusiastically. Talk about crunching numbers!

When I announced that Lizzie had passed her CPA test, my wife said, "Maybe she can do our taxes."

Better yet, maybe Lizzie can go to work for a company like Enruff or WoofCom. She couldn’t do any worse than the accountants at Arthur Andersen.

The only trouble is, if she did get involved in an accounting scandal, I’d be the one in the doghouse.