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'A paradise for profiteers'? The importance and treatment of profits during the First World War

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  • Anthony J. Arnold

Abstract

When the First World War started, the British government adopted a policy of 'business as usual'. This came under pressure as a result of both military difficulties and public concerns over 'profiteering', leading to discussions between the government and interest groups and the 'Treasury agreement' in 1915. The agreement paved the way for the transition to a 'total war economy' that was central to the war effort. This paper examines the process that raised industrial profit levels to such political importance during the war and the ways in which profits were treated by the government during and immediately after the war. Corporate secrecy, suspicions that the state was less than even-handed in its dealings with capital and labour, and individual instances of high profits increased public concern, but did not establish the true levels of profit making. The study reviews the available information on profits and also provides new data on the distribution of those profits across a number of major industrial groups in order to provide a more definitive perspective on the extent to which the business sector was or was not able to 'profiteer' during the First World War.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony J. Arnold, 2014. "'A paradise for profiteers'? The importance and treatment of profits during the First World War," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2-3), pages 61-81, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:24:y:2014:i:2-3:p:61-81
    DOI: 10.1080/21552851.2014.963950
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rubin, Gerry, 1987. "War, Law, and Labour: The Munitions Acts, State Regulation, and the Unions 1915-1921," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198255383, Decembrie.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giuseppe Modarelli, 2021. "Accounting and the budget negotiation process: The case of the Holy Shroud Exposition (1931) during a period of austerity," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 7-53.
    2. Martin Quinn & Desmond Gibney, 2018. "Accounting at an Irish maltster – the accounting practices of Bennetts of Ballinacurra in the 1920s and 1930s," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1-2), pages 61-84, May.

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