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Donaldson Brown (1885-1965): The Power Of An Individual And His Ideas Over Time, Dale L. Flesher, Gary John Previts

Accounting Historians Journal

Donaldson Brown developed the expanded Return on Investment (ROI) measure, or DuPont formula, in 1914. However ROI was not Brown's only contribution to financial management. His dealer ten-day reporting system was widely and rapidly adopted throughout the auto industry. His ideas to support a variety of forecasting and planning techniques supported decentralized corporate management and his pricing processes were cutting-edge developments that others tried to emulate. Flexible budgeting at General Motors, frequently unrecognized, also was in place during his financial administration in the early 1920s. ROI remains Brown's most prominent contribution and the technique achieved status as a dominant approach …