Crossword Genius

Bloodsucker in Government working in the Department of Finance (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

counting

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'finance' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'bloodsucker in government working in the department of' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'in' is found in the answer.
'government' could be 'g' and 'g' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cunt' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for counting that I've seen before include "Enumerating" , "arithmetic" , "of some importance" , "Maths activity" , "Adding up" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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