Work

Capitalism Starts with a Balance Sheet

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The balance sheet was a familiar tool even in the Soviet planned economy, but its role changed dramatically with the shift to capitalism. No longer only a formal document for state reporting, it became a framework for measuring value, profit, and risk — essential elements of a market economy. Even so, the accountants were still the same people as before, shaped by old habits and ways of thinking. Through this quiet transformation of accounting standards and practices, a new capitalist reality was built — not by grand declarations, but line by line in the ledgers.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17464005

Author: Romanova, Mariia

Institution: University of Vienna

Language: English

Topic: Russia and Soviet political economy

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: European Commission

Award: G801983636