Accounting and accountants as essential elements in the development of central administration during the inter-war period: management ideology and technology at Alais, Froges et Camargue (AFC-Pechiney)

Abstract

Alais, Froges et Camargue (AFC or Pechiney) came into being following mergers within the French aluminium industry during and immediately following the First World War. The new management had to cope with a rapidly expanded, diversified and geographically dispersed business enterprise. During the inter-war period AFC's directors created a strong administrative and functional organization to unify and standardize the use of management tools and the operation of the financial information system. The accounting department, closely linked to the Chief Executive Officer from 1921, was to be the main focus of the new organization. The ideology of rationalization, typical of the inter-war period, was clearly to be found at Pechiney's headquarters, reflected in the systematization of management, the training of clerks and mechanization.