I usually write getter/setter combos:

sub accountnumber {
   my ($self, $num) = @_;

   if (defined($num)) {
      $self->{account_num} = $num;
      return $self;
   } else {
      return $self->{account_num};
   }
}
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But even that's a pain in the arse too. So, Class::Accessor for the win.

use base qw(Class::Accessor);

__PACKAGE__->mk_accessors(qw(accountnumber));
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