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Adapting to Crisis: Accounting Information Systems during the Weimar Hyperinflation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2020

Sebastian Hoffmann  and
Stephen P. Walker
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Abstract

German corporations are characterized as having been adaptable in the face of numerous traumatizing events during the twentieth century. This article explores how firms adapted their accounting information systems during the hyperinflation of the 1920s. It suggests that responses to the crisis focused on system elements identified as key to continuing operations. Initially, firms amended selling and purchasing arrangements, modified financial reporting, and shifted managerial reporting to nonmonetary information. As inflation accelerated, human resources were diverted to maintaining critical functions, especially those related to remunerating labor. While some elements of accounting systems fell into disrepair, there were also examples of innovation.

Keywords

accounting information systemsadaptationhyperinflationGermany
Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2020 , pp. 593 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2020

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Footnotes

We gratefully acknowledge the funding of this research by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the generous support provided by staff at the archives visited. Grateful thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

References

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12 Henry W. Sweeney, “Effects of Inflation on German Accounting,” Journal of Accountancy 43 (Mar. 1927): 180–91.

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14 See Fear and Kobrak, “Diverging Paths.” The focus on theory and financial reporting is evident in the work of historians of the German hyperinflation who touch on accounting-related themes. See, for example, Gerald D. Feldman, Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, Gerhard A. Ritter, and Peter-Christian Witt, eds, The German Inflation Reconsidered: A Preliminary Balance (New York, 1982); Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, The German Inflation 1914–1923: Causes and Effects in International Perspective (New York, 1986); Karsten Laursen and Jorgen Pedersen, The German Inflation, 1918–1923 (Amsterdam, 1964); Steven B. Webb, Hyperinflation and Stabilization in Weimar Germany (Oxford, 1989); Eric E. Rowley, Hyperinflation in Germany: Perceptions of a Process (Aldershot, 1994); and Frederick Taylor, The Downfall of Money: Germany's Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class (London, 2014). Economic historians also tend to dwell on financial reporting. See, for example, Constantino Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation: A Study of Currency Depreciation in Post-War Germany (London, 1937), 220, 222, 261, 275–76; Frank D. Graham, Exchange, Prices, and Hyper-inflation: Germany, 1920–1923 (New York, 1967), 87–94, 276–320; Dieter Lindenlaub, Maschinenbauunternehmen in der deutschen Inflation 1919–1923 (Berlin and New York, 1985), 198–200, 222; and Gerald D. Feldman, The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914–1924 (Oxford, 1993), 299–300, 580–81, 841–42. See, for example, Theo Balderston, “German Banking between the Wars: The Crisis of the Credit Banks,” Business History Review 65, no. 3 (1991): 554–605; and Jeffrey R. Fear and R. Daniel Wadhwani, “Populism and Political Entrepreneurship: The Universalization of German Savings Banks and the Decline of U.S. Savings Banks, 1908–1934,” in Berghoff, Kocka, and Ziegler, Business in the Age of Extremes, 94–118. Nonbanking studies include Boris Barth, “Die Anfänge des Gerling-Konzerns 1904 bis 1926: Der ‘Outsider’ Robert Gerling, das ‘Feuerkartell’ und die Lücke im Markt,” Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte 50, no. 1 (2005): 36–62; Hartmut Kiehling, “Die wirtschaftliche Situation des deutschen Einzelhandels in den Jahren 1920 bis 1923: Die Beispiele des Lebensmittel- und Bekleidungseinzelhandels,” Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte 41, no. 1 (1996): 1–27; and Wixforth, “Unternehmensstrategien in der Krise?”

15 Fear and Kobrak, “Diverging Paths,” 3.

16 Ulric J. Gelinas, Richard B. Dull, Patrick R. Wheeler, and Mary C. Hill, Accounting Information Systems, 11th ed. (Boston, 2017).

17 Greg Bankoff, “Time Is of the Essence: Disasters, Vulnerability and History,” International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 22, no. 3 (2004): 23–42; Benjamin Wisner, “Vulnerability as Concept, Model, Metric, and Tool,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science, ed. Susan L. Cutter (New York, 2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.25.

18 Feldman, Great Disorder; Taylor, Downfall of Money; Adam Fergusson, When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Hyper-inflation (London, 2015).

19 Statistisches Reichsamt, Die deutsche Inflation: Zahlen zur Geldentwertung in Deutschland 1914 bis 1923. Wirtschaft und Statistik. Sonderheft (Berlin, 1925), 6–10.

20 Nathan L. Engle, “Adaptive Capacity and Its Assessment,” Global Environmental Change 21, no. 2 (2011): 647–56; Gilberto C. Gallopin, “Linkages between Vulnerability, Resilience, and Adaptive Capacity,” Global Environmental Change 16, no. 3 (2006): 293–303.

21 Engle, “Adaptive Capacity.”

22 Alfred D. Chandler, “Organizational Capabilities and the Economic History of the Industrial Enterprise,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 6, no. 3 (1992): 79–100; Daniel A. Levinthal, “Organizational Capabilities in Complex Worlds,” in The Nature and Dynamics of Organizational Capabilities, ed. Giovanni Dosi, Richard R. Nelson, and Sidney Winter (Oxford, 2001), 363–81.

23 The most significant statutory intervention came in December 1923 (and is discussed later). A law passed in early 1923 concerned shielding firms from inflation-induced tax burdens. See Wilhelm Gerloff and Georg Strutz, Steuerwirtschaft und Steuerrecht im Zeichen der Geldentwertung (Berlin, 1923).

24 Note that liquidations, mergers, fires, floods, world war, and the partition of Germany have all resulted in the loss or destruction of numerous business records since the early 1920s. The records for our period held in the repositories we accessed were often highly fragmented.

25 For elements of accounting information systems, see Gelinas et al., Accounting Information Systems.

26 Gelinas et al., 11.

27 Jahresbericht 1920, E. Merck, sig. F3/24, Merck-Archiv, Darmstadt (hereafter Merck).

28 Constant shifting between currencies at the height of the crisis has been described as “hermaphroditic accounting and pricing.” See Gerald D. Feldman, Iron and Steel in the German Inflation, 1916–1923 (Princeton, 1977), 397.

29 Rundschreiben 1 1915-1955, MAN, sig. 1.1.3, MAN Truck & Bus Historisches Archiv, Munich.

30 Leitsätze Preisgestaltung, Gutehoffnungshütte, 1923, sig. 300002/2, Abt. 130, Collection Gute-Hoffnungs-Hütte Oberhausen, Rheinisch Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Cologne (hereafter GHH).

31 Bericht der Thermit-Abteilung, Th. Goldschmidt AG, 1921–1922, no sig., Collection Th. Goldschmidt AG, Firmenarchiv Evonik Industries, Marl (hereafter Th. Goldschmidt).

32 Grundstück Jahnstr., Deutsche Kugellagerfabrik, 1923, sig. 113, U63, Collection Deutsche Kugellagerfabrik, Sächsisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Leipzig.

33 Bernd Widdig, Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany (Berkeley, CA, 2001), 14; see also Holtfrerich, German Inflation, 70.

34 Geschäftsbericht der Hauptbuchhaltung 1923/24, Gutehoffnungshütte, 10 Sep. 1924, sig. 300108/70, GHH.

35 William Guttmann and Patricia Meehan, The Great Inflation: Germany, 1919–23 (London, 1976), 79.

36 Gehälter April 1921–Januar 1924, Kübler & Niethammer, sig. 998/999, U47, Collection Kübler & Niethammer, Sächsisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Leipzig (hereafter K&N).

37 Erfahrungsbericht zur Inflationszeit, Dorothea Bieger, 18 Oct. 1975, sig. B1-87, Schering Archiv/Bayer AG, Berlin (hereafter SchA).

38 Akten und Korrespondenzen Inflationszeit, BASF, 1919–1923, sig. A.8.4./7, BASF Unternehmensarchiv, Ludwigshafen (hereafter BASF).

39 Erfahrungsbericht zur Inflationszeit, Dorothea Bieger, 18 Oct. 1975, sig. B1-87, SchA.

40 Bilanz- und Buchungsfragen in der Erweiterten I.G., BASF, 19 Feb. 1923, sig. A.1.6./11., BASF.

41 Widdig, Culture and Inflation, 97–98.

42 Aktennotiz Kredit Schönfeld Elberfeld, Bank für Handel und Industrie, 20 Sep. 1924, sig. HAC 500 1436-2000, Collection Dresdner Bank, Firmenarchiv Commerzbank, Frankfurt/M (hereafter CoBa).

43 Jahresbericht 1923, E. Merck, n.d., sig. F3/27, Merck.

44 Graham, Exchange, 90–93.

45 Niederschriften Vorstandssitzungen, Eisen- und Stahlwerk Hoesch, Sep. 1921–Dec. 1923, sig. H7, Collection Hoesch, Thyssenkrupp Konzernarchiv, Duisburg (hereafter TKA).

46 Mindestlöhne, Lohnanpassungen 1923, Carl Zeiss, n.d., sig. BACZ 781, Firmenarchiv Carl Zeiss, Jena (hereafter CZ).

47 Personalangelegenheiten Bankdirektor Heinrich Sartori 1923, Darmstädter und Nationalbank, n.d., sig. HAC 500 890/890-1999, Collection Dresdner Bank, CoBa.

48 Rundschreiben, Gutehoffnungshütte, 20 Nov. 1923, sig. 300104/6, GHH.

49 Lohnangelegenheiten, Bayer, 1919–1923, sig. BAL 215-002, Bayer AG Corporate History & Archives, Leverkusen (hereafter Bayer).

50 Graham, Exchange, 246–47; Guttmann and Meehan, Great Inflation, 83.

51 Lothar Gall, Gerald D. Feldman, Harold James, Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, and Hans E. Büschgen, The Deutsche Bank 1870–1995 (London, 1995), 198, 203–5.

52 Taylor, Downfall of Money, 281.

53 Geschäftsbericht 1923, Commerz- und Privatbank, n.d., sig. Geschäftsbericht 1923, Collection Commerzbank, CoBa.

54 Finanzdisposition, Gutehoffnungshütte, 2 Oct. 1923, sig. 300070/10, GHH.

55 Bilanz- und Buchungsfragen in der Erweiterten I.G., Casella, 22 Dec. 1922, sig. A.1.6./11., BASF.

56 Jahresbericht 1923, E. Merck, n.d., sig. F3/27, Merck.

57 Bericht über das Arbeitsgebiet Buchhaltung-Finanz der Fr. Krupp AG, Paul Neumann, 1 Nov. 1943, sig. WA 4/2841, Historisches Archiv Krupp, Essen (hereafter HA Krupp).

58 See Nertinger, Josef, Goldmark-Buchführung und Goldmark-Bilanzen (Stuttgart, 1922), 12–14Google Scholar.

59 Gesamtumsätze nach Werken, Ländern und Produkten, I.G., 1918–1925, sig. H0090998, Sanofi-Hoechst Archiv, Friedrichsdorf (hereafter SHA).

60 HAG Schweiz an Zentrale, 29 Aug. 1922, sig. 00946383 R2 95 /26, Collection Kaffee Handels-Aktiengesellschaft (HAG), Mondelez International Archiv, Bremen (hereafter Kaffee HAG).

61 Examples include BASF, Fried. Krupp AG, and E. Merck.

62 Bilanzbuch, Deutsche Benzol-Vereinigung GmbH, n.d., sig. AA 138, Collection Aral, Deutsche BP Historisches Archiv, Bochum.

63 Journal, Kaffee HAG, Aug. 1922, no sig., Kaffee HAG.

64 Bilanz- und Buchungsfragen in der Erweiterten I.G., Agfa, 15 Nov. 1923, sig. A.1.6./11., BASF.

65 Bericht über das Arbeitsgebiet Buchhaltung-Finanz der Fr. Krupp AG, Paul Neumann, 1 Nov. 1943, sig. WA 4/2841, HA Krupp.

66 Monatsabrechnungen Abteilung Arenberg, Zeche Arenberg, Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, Jan. 1922–Feb. 1924, sig. RSW 4881; Monatsabrechnungen Abteilung Arenberg, Zeche Prosper, Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, Jan. 1923–Dec. 1924, sig. RSW 4883, both in Collection Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, TKA.

67 Arbeiterlöhne und Lohnübersicht, BASF, 24 Mar.–22 Sep. 1923, sig. A.8.4./6., BASF.

68 Gehälter, Bayer, 1923, sig. BAL 458-069, Bayer.

69 See, for example, Jahresbericht 1923, E. Merck, n.d., sig. F3/27, Merck; Bericht über das Arbeitsgebiet Buchhaltung-Finanz der Fr. Krupp AG, Paul Neumann, 1 Nov. 1943, sig. WA 4/2841, HA Krupp; Jahresberichte, Gutehoffnungshütte, 1922/23, sig. 300108/67, GHH.

70 See Bericht über das Arbeitsgebiet Buchhaltung-Finanz der Fr. Krupp AG, Paul Neumann, 1 Nov. 1943, sig. WA 4/2841, HA Krupp.

71 Erfahrungsbericht zur Inflationszeit, Dorothea Bieger, 18 Oct. 1975, sig. B1-87, SchA.

72 Aktennotiz Kredit Schönfeld Elberfeld, Bank für Handel und Industrie, 20 Sep. 1924, sig. HAC 500 1436-2000, Collection Dresdner Bank, CoBa.

73 Revision: Kriminalfälle, Darmstädter und Nationalbank, 5 Mar. 1924, sig. HAC 500 13710-2000, Collection Dresdner Bank, CoBa.

74 Revisionsberichte Buchprüfung Hamburg, Carl Zeiss, 13 Sep. 1924, sig. BACZ 07156, CZ.

75 Direktionssitzungen und Gesellschafterversammlung, Barmer Bank-Verein, 29 Nov. 1923, sig. HAC 4-21, Collection Commerzbank, CoBa.

76 Bericht über das Arbeitsgebiet Buchhaltung-Finanz der Fr. Krupp AG, Paul Neumann, 1 Nov. 1943, sig. WA 4/2841, HA Krupp.

77 Finanzausgleichsgesetz, Finanzaufstellung, I.G., n.d., sig. H0091026, SHA.

78 Vorstandssitzungen, Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, 3 Jun. 1924, sig. RSW 4021, Collection Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, TKA.

79 See Fear and Kobrak, “Diverging Paths,” 26.

80 Verordnung über Goldbilanzen, no. 135, 28 Dec. 1923, Reichsgesetzblatt (RGBl.) part 1 (Berlin, 1923), 1253.

81 Müller, Gustav, Goldmark-Eröffnungsbilanz und Technik der Gold-markbuchführung (Berlin, 1924)Google Scholar.

82 Sweeney, “Effects of Inflation,” 190; see also Feldman, Great Disorder, 841–42.

83 Schmalenbach, Eugen, “Die Goldmarkbilanz,” Zeitschrift für handelswissenschaftliche Forschung 18 (1924): 1–20Google Scholar; Bresciani-Turroni, Economics of Inflation, 262.

84 Feldman, Great Disorder, 841–42; Fear, Organizing Control, 498; Bresciani-Turroni, Economics of Inflation, 262; Fear and Kobrak, “Diverging Paths,” 26. An example is Mannesmannröhren-Werke, which made numerous discretionary write-downs, write-offs and write-ups in preparation for the transition to gold-mark accounting.

85 See Wilhelm Voss, “Valuation of Fixed Assets – Historical versus Present Day Costs Including Post War Revaluations,” in International Congress on Accounting 1929, ed. Richard P. Brief (1930; New York, 1982), 512–32.

86 Examples include Bayerische Motorenwerke; Chemische Fabrik von Heyden; MAN; Chemische Fabrik auf Actien (vorm. E. Schering); and Gutehoffnungshütte.

87 Geschäftsbericht 1923, Chemische Fabrik von Heyden, 16 July 1924, sig. 014, U107(AWD), Collection Chemische Fabrik von Heyden, Sächsisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Leipzig (hereafter von Heyden).

88 An example is C.A.F. Kahlbaum Chemische Fabrik. See Satzung, Kahlbaum, 8 Jul. 1922, sig. B0-144, SchA.

89 Bilanz, August Thyssen Hütte, 1922/23, sig. A 767; Bilanzen, August Thyssen Hütte, 1923, sig. A 768, both in Collection August Thyssen Hütte, TKA.

90 Geschäftsbericht 1923, Agfa, 20 Sep. 1924, sig. BAL 004-B17-001, Bayer.

91 See Meltzer, H., “Zur Goldmarkbilanz,” Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft 1 (1924): 385–86Google Scholar.

92 It should be noted that annual reporting by some firms was also fractured by the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr region from January 1923. Firms such as Hoesch and Gutehoffnungshütte were unable to retrieve the data necessary to prepare financial statements from plants in the occupied territories.

93 Rechnungsabschlüsse, Mannesmannröhren-Werke, 30 Jun. 1923, sig. M 50.227, Collection Mannesmannröhren-Werke, Salzgitter Konzernarchiv, Mülheim an der Ruhr.

94 Geschäftsbericht über das neunundzwanzigste Geschäftsjahr, Farbwerke Mühlheim, 22 Dec. 1924, sig. BAL 005-F-001, Bayer.

95 Examples include Dresdner Bank, MAN, Th. Goldschmidt, Kaffee HAG, Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, and Bayerische Motorenwerke.

96 Jahresbericht über das 67, Geschäftsjahr, Norddeutsche Bank, 6 June 1924, sig. Norddeutsche Bank Geschäftsbericht 1923, Historisches Institut der Deutschen Bank, Frankfurt/M.

97 Fear and Kobrak, “Diverging Paths.”

98 Kobrak, Christopher, National Cultures and International Competition: The Experience of Schering AG, 1851–1950 (Cambridge, U.K., 2002), 53Google Scholar.

99 Statistik-Abteilung, E. Merck, 1899–1928, sig. S6, Merck.

100 Vergleich ausgewählter Bilanzwerte 1914 und 1921, Busemann, 30 Jun. 1921, sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1919/1920/1921; Statistik Edelmetallumsatz, Degussa, n.d., sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1924/25, both in Collection Degussa, Firmenarchiv Evonik Industries, Hanau (hereafter Degussa).

101 For examples see Umsatzstatistik Feinmechanik und Optik, Carl Zeiss, n.d., sig. BACZ 13366; Umsatzangaben, 1912–1949, sig. BACZ 21198; Umsatzkennziffern, Carl Zeiss, 1912–1949, sig. BACZ 21200, all in CZ.

102 Bericht der Thermit-Abteilung, Th. Goldschmidt AG, 1921–1923, no sig., Th. Goldschmidt.

103 Verkauf gesamt, MAN, n.d., sig. AG 1.5.0.3, MAN Historisches Archiv, Augsburg.

104 Vermögensvergleich, Krupp, n.d., sig. FAH 23/752; Statistiken, n.d., sig. FAH 23/830, both in HA Krupp. This practice also ensured that the substantial profits earned during World War I were omitted in internal reports. See Burchardt, Lothar, “Zwischen Kriegsgewinnen und Kriegskosten: Krupp im Ersten Weltkrieg,” Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte 32, no. 2 (1987): 71–123Google Scholar.

105 See Walb, Ernst, “Tageswert oder Anschaffungswert in der Bilanz,” Zeitschrift für handelswissenschaftliche Forschung 18 (1924): 228–40Google Scholar.

106 Umsatzzahlen 1921/22, Niederlassung Pforzheim, n.d., sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1921/1922; Wirtschaftlicher Vergleich zweier Cyanverfahren, Degussa, 15 Mar. 1923, sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1922/23, both in Degussa.

107 Monatsabschlüsse, Kübler & Niethammer, 1923, sig. 1159, K&N.

108 Monatsabrechnungen Abteilung Arenberg, Zeche Prosper, Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, Jan. 1923–Dec. 1924, sig. RSW 4883, Collection Rheinische Stahlwerke Duisburg-Meiderich, TKA.

109 Umsatzstatistik, I.G., 1923–1924, sig. H0091005, SHA.

110 Examples include E. Merck and BASF. See also Guttmann and Meehan, Great Inflation, 61–62, 73–74.

111 Monatliche Betriebsberichte, Gutehoffnungshütte, 1922/23, sig. 300108/65, GHH.

112 Protokolle des Aufsichtsrats, Chemische Fabrik von Heyden, 1920–1925, sig. 25/2, von Heyden.

113 Kalkulation zur Entscheidung über Produktionsverfahren in französischer Fabrik, Degussa, 4 July 1921, sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1921/22, Degussa.

114 Examples of a continuous cost reporting include Degussa, E. Merck, Gutehoffnungshütte, and Carl Zeiss.

115 See, for example, Prüfung bei G. Siebert, Degussa, 16 May 1923, sig. Geschäftsbericht/Jahresabschluss 1922/22, Degussa; and Akten und Korrespondenzen Inflationszeit, BASF, 1919–1923, sig. A.8.4./7., BASF.

116 Unkosten für das Konto Notgeld, Hoechst, 11 Oct. 1922, sig. H0120066, SHA.