World War 2 governmental cost-plus procurement: An Australian case study

Abstract

The much-maligned cost-plus contract used in the procurement of defence assets has received little attention in the accounting history literature focused on accounting and the military in times of war. An extensive archive of a World War 2 contract between the Australian government and the UK De Havilland Aircraft Company for the supply of Tiger Moth airframes provides an opportunity to investigate important features of this contract, including cost recording and disclosure, monitoring of cost data by government inspectors, resolution of uncontracted events and evidence of government action to mitigate risks associated with this form of contracting. We also broaden the extant literature on open-book accounting on the premise that government access to the contractor's costing system constitutes a strong subset of this phenomenon. Finally, the batch-costing techniques utilised show strong evidence of ‘learning’ in respect of direct labour costs, consistent with this feature of cost behaviour in aircraft assembly.