Andrzej Bienieks contribution to accounting education and the literature on cost accounting in Poland in the interwar period

Abstract

Purpose: The article is related to the scientific edition of Andrzej Bienieks monograph Systematyka kosztw wasnych (Systematics of own costs), which was published originally in 1938. The reprint of this book was published in 2022 as part of the Golden Series of Polish Accounting, promoted by the Main Board of the Accountants Association in Poland. The article describes Bierneks achievements in educating accountants and trade workers, and it examines his contribution to the development of knowledge on cost accounting in Poland in the interwar period.Methodology/approach: The method of historical analysis of Bieeks biographical sources and publications identified during the library query was used, including the authors works available in the POLONA digital library.Findings: Bieniek (18951944), a soldier of the Polish Legions and then the Polish Ar-my, and an activist of the Home Army during World War II, tied his professional life with teaching and developing accounting in theory and practice. In the interwar period, he worked as an accounting teacher at commercial schools in d and Warsaw, and then as an academic teacher at the Warsaw School of Economics. He was the author of about 40 publications of various kinds. In books and articles on accounting in manufacturing companies and in his published doctoral dissertation, he presented and explained the issues of classifying, recording and calculating costs, and cost analysis. In these publications, he built the foundations for the development of cost accounting in Poland for enterprise management.Originality/value: The article broadens the knowledge of the history of accounting in interwar Poland by presenting the didactic and scientific achievements of a researcher and author forgotten after World War II.