Goodwill as a Symbol of Growth in the Work of Professor Dimitar Dobrev from the First Half of the 20th Century

Atanas Atanasov ()

Proceedings of the Centre for Economic History Research, 2023, vol. 8, 388-398

Abstract: Prof. Dimitar Dobrev was born in the city of Kotel in 1888. He received his higher education in the city of Leipzig (Germany), and later in 1911 defended his doctoral dissertation in economics at the University of Erlangen (Germany). As one of the most famous scientists in the field of accounting at the beginning of the 20th century, Prof. Dimitar Dobrev was one of the first authors who pay attention to the goodwill in his scientific works. We believe that the development of the goodwill as an accounting category should be considered in parallel with the development of Bulgarian accounting science in a historical aspect. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the development of Prof. Dobrev's views on goodwill as a specific accounting object, and on this basis to draw a parallel with the modern "drivers" of the value and growth factors in the enterprises. The research methodology is based on the publications of Prof. Dimitar Dobrev in the period 1920-1950 as the main source of information regarding his views on goodwill. The article also compares the views of prominent scientists from Western Europe who worked during this period. We defend the thesis that the application of the scientific approach to goodwill by Prof. Dobrev leads to a theoretical substantiation of the evaluation and presentation of goodwill in the balance sheet. Based on the analysis of Prof. Dobrev's publications, three periods have been identified in the development of the concept of goodwill. The goodwill is presented as an intangible productive and profitable factor that generates income and distinguishes an existing business from a start-up. In this aspect, a parallel is drawn with the modern understanding of business value and growth factors in the enterprises, based on business models that are built on the basis of intangible factors such as goodwill.

Keywords: goodwill accounting; goodwill valuation; Dimitar Dobrev; growth factor; balance sheet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M41 M48 N10 N44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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