New insights from cost accounting into British entrepreneurial performance circa 1914

This article takes issue with economic historians who have tried to rehabilitate the reputation of the late Victorian and Edwardian entrepreneur. It argues that the revisionist attempt to ground their case on cost, profit, and productivity calculations flounders because of an insufficient analysis of the factors involved in arriving at cost, profit, and productivity. The economic historian, preoccupied with recent European economic development could, therefore, improve his analysis by incorporating the science of management accounting into his methodology. A companion piece to this article will be published in the fall issue of the journal.