Accounting amid armed conflict : a retrospective analysis

Abstract

PURPOSE: The goal of the article is to investigate the roles played by accounting during wartime from the perspectives of perpetrators (aggressors) and victims of military actions and the Holocaust.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Multiple research approaches were employed, including archival research, H. Arendt's concept regarding the formation of government bureaucracy in twentieth-century totalitarian regimes, the concept of the Jewish civilian resistance movement, and the concepts of biopower and racism.

FINDINGS: Research has determined that accounting served specific functions during the period of World War II, arising from the social processes occurring as a result of wartime actions. The research findings indicate a focus on cost accounting and the development of a standardized chart of accounts to provide information that allowed the German occupying authorities to maintain control over the functioning of businesses. Analysing the nature of accounting regulations implemented in trustee-managed enterprises within the General Government allowed for the identification of various functions of accounting, including segregation, legitimization, control, elimination, and expropriation, in addition to its masking function. Accounting in the civilian Jewish resistance movement served a documentary, settlement, and control function. It upheld the long-standing practice of making reliable and accurate financial records. Accounting in the Łódź Ghetto allowed for the measurement of labor efficiency. Labor efficiency in ghetto conditions was seen as the only possible means of survival from extermination. The involvement of accountants in managing the accounting system was driven by a rational desire for survival.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Accounting provides the delivery of financial information that is essential for assessing and managing the consequences of war losses. Settling war losses is a significant element of the foreign policy of Poland and Greece.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The article presents the results of a study on the diverse functions of accounting during the period of war in Poland that have not been collectively published until now.