Adolph Matz (April 25, 1905 – October 1, 1986) was a German/American organizational theorist, and Professor of Accounting at the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...
, known for his work on
cost accounting.
Life and work
Matz was born in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
[Michael-Jörg Oesterle et al. ''Internationalisierung und Institution'' Springer-Verlag, 2005. p. 454] or
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Germany and started his studies in Weimar Republic. In the early 1930s he came to the United States, and obtained the American citizenship in 1933. He obtained his BA in 1932 at the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...
, where he also obtained his MA in 1933 and his PhD in 1937. He started his academic career at the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...
, and became Professor of Accounting.
Matz is noted for his 1946 prediction, that "completion of the first all-electronic general-purpose computing machine
ould openthe future to the development of business machines heretofore undreamed of... and may well also revolutionize methods and systems of dealing with everyday business transactions." These ideas were however dismissed as "too ephemeral," and his article initially rejected.
[Dilys Winegrad.]
Crackpot notions the story of ENIAC
" ''Penn Printout.'' March 1996. Vol 12.4.
Matz died October 1, 1986, in
Blue Bell, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Selected publications
* Matz, Adolph, Othel J. Curry, and George W. Frank. ''Cost Accounting: Management's Operational Tool for Planning, Control, and Analysis.'' South-Western, 1962.
* Matz, Adolph, and M. F. Usry. ''Cost Accounting, Planning and Control South.'' western Publishing Co (1984).
Articles, a selection:
* Matz, Adolph. "Accounting as a tool for economy in German business." ''Accounting Review'' (1940): 177-185.
* Matz, Adolph. "Electronics in Accounting." ''Accounting Review'' (1946): 371-379.
* Adolph Matz.
A Bibliography of Cost Accounting: Its Origins and Development to 1914, 2 Vols. by M. C. Wells" ''The Accounting Historians Journal,'' Vol. 8, No. 2 (Fall 1981), pp. 129–133.
References
External links
portrait photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matz, Adolph
1905 births
1986 deaths
American accountants
American business theorists
German accountants
German business theorists
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Writers from Karlsruhe
German emigrants to the United States