In the article the author basing on the unpublished archival materials marks the reasons which led trading houses to bankruptcy. The statistics of bankruptcies is analyzed, it is noticed that especially many bankruptcies were at the period of the economic crisis at the beginning of 1900s, and also in 1911-1912. The author comes to the conclusion that along with the reasons of the objective character, that led trading houses to bankruptcy, it is necessary to name the subjective reason, i.e. so-called "the personal validity" of a businessman.

Key words: organizing-legal forms of business, bankruptcy of trading houses in the Western Siberia, the pre-war years of economic rise, period of economic recession, influence of cycles of the world market on the Russian capitalist economy, "marmot" crisis of 1911, weak knowledge of Siberian merchant class, "the personal validity" of a businessman, absence of manager's commercial foresight.