This derogatory label targets office personnel who scrutinize budgets and cut funding for necessary tools, materials, or labor. Shop workers use the term when a superior forces them to use inferior parts or reduces project timelines purely to save money. The implication is that the person understands spreadsheets perfectly but knows nothing about the physical realities of the work.
Heard on the job
The bean counters switched our glove supplier again and these new ones tear in five minutes.