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[AMERICAN BOOKKEEPING METHODS IN SOVIET UKRAINE] Podviina Bukhhalteriia. Amerykanske Knyzhkuvannia, Proportsiina y Dyferentsiina Kalkuliatsiia ta Vyshukuvannia Mertvoi Tochky v Produktsii [i.e. Double-Entry Bookkeeping. American Bookkeeping, Proportional and Differential Calculation and Finding the Breakeven Point in Production]

Hutsailo, Y[evhen]

Item #2313

Kiev: D.U.D., 1925. 125, [3] p., 4 fold-outs. 22,5 x 15,5 cm. Publisher’s cover. One of 3000 copies. In Ukrainian. Good condition. Minor spots and creases on both covers.

The book offered a practical guide for accountants and managers who were in high demand during the New Economic Policy. In a short preface to the present book, Hutsailo mentions that a group of Canadian socialist comrades acquainted him with the modern bookkeeping approach and now he wants to share this knowledge with his Eastern European comrades.

Yevhen Hutsailo (ca. 1880–1928) was a Ukrainian communist. Born in Bukovina, Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern Western Ukraine) he was a founding member of Ukrainska Sotsial-
Demokratychna Partiia [Ukrainian Social Democratic Party of Eastern Galicia]. In 1913, Hutsailo moved to Winnipeg, Canada, engaging in numerous political activities, communist press and propaganda distribution within the diaspora. He edited the socialist newspaper Robochyi narod (1909–1918): one of the earliest Ukrainian newspapers in Canada. Supported by the Socialist
Party of Canada, the editorial board made the first translation of the Communist Manifesto to Ukrainian. With the coming of Soviet rule to Ukraine in the early 1920s, Hutsailo returned to focus on teaching.

Hutsailo mentions that “a manager without accounting knowledge is like a composer without musical instruments”. Among the advantages of the American bookkeeping system Hutsailo notes that it’s up to 75% faster in terms of speed, more efficient and convenient compared to the outdated system used in Ukraine, one that is ironically labelled as “a long chain of sausages”. Thus the book comprehensively covers everything one can ask for for a rapid knowledge gain.

Hutsailo writes in a brief journalistic manner on basic theories of inventory, actives and passives, company balance, correspondent accounts, costs and production growth. Using a brewery as an example, the book overviews a business approach that was deemed to be very useful for the newly established country. Handy four foldout tables show a detailed description of month-by-month accounting.

During 1910’s the country lost many qualified financial experts: due to the Civil war, mass immigration and political repressions. Many loyal but uneducated people were re-appointed from political to managerial positions and had to get the insights right on the go. The demand for such digestible knowledge should’ve been high: the mass discontent of nationalisation and food requisition was rising and means of reorganisation had to be taken. The Bolsheviks decided to steer towards a more commercial-based New Economic Policy and indigenisation policies that demanded the introduction of a new generation of Ukrainian textbooks and references. Despite all the effort and growing qualifications of the managers and accountants who were relying on guides like this Podviina Bukhhalteriia, NEP failed miserably as the metropolitan politicians saw a threat in growing independent local businesses. It led to a statewide 5-year economic plan and for Ukraine – to a catastrophic Holodomor.

In: Litopys Ukrainskoho druku p. 1-2 (Kiev: Ukrainska Knyzhkova Palata, 1925), #856.

Rare. Not in KVK. Not in WorldCat.

Price: $550.00