Adolf Moxter

After graduating from the Wirtschaftsoberschule and after working for six months as a commercial trainee in a metal foundry, Adolf Moxter (* 3 October 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, † 7 April 2018) studied at the JohannWolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main from 1950 to 1954 and obtained a degree in business administration. As early as 1956, he received his doctorate under Karl Hax with a thesis on "Methodological Basic Questions of Business Administration". His habilitation followed in 1961 - also in Frankfurt - with the thesis "Influence of Publicity Regulations on Entrepreneurial Behaviour". In the same year, Moxter was appointed full professor of business administration at the University of Saarbrücken. Four years later, he took over his chair as full professor of business administration at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and has been head of the seminar for trusteeship there ever since.

Moxter has long been associated with business practice as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayerische Treuhand AG, Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft. In 1991 he was awarded honorary membership of the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer e.V. (Institute of Auditors).

On 21 February 1992, Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Adolf Moxter was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Trier for his outstanding services to business management theory and its application to accounting and company valuation.

Moxter's scientific work is imposing in both quantitative and qualitative terms. It ranges from basic questions of scientific theory in business administration to investment and financing theory, business valuation and questions of balance sheet theory and law. Moxter has always been an uncomfortable and rigorous critic, questioning basic positions as well as details; in particular, he has developed groundbreaking systems in the fields of company valuation and balance sheets, on which he has concentrated since the 1970s. His "Grundsätze ordnungsmäßiger Unternehmensbewertung" (2nd ed. 1983) have become a standard work. In addition, the monographs "Betriebswirtschaftliche Gewinnermittlung" (1982) and "Bilanzrechtsprechung" (2nd ed. 1985) as well as the two-volume textbook "Bilanztheorie" (2nd ed. 1984/86) were extremely well received. Moxter's academic work is characterised by a combination of the highest theoretical standards with a simultaneous focus on business practice. Through his work, he has made a significant contribution to interdisciplinary discourse, especially between economists and lawyers.