Publications

December 1999 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Inflation Accounting and Analysis

By: David F. Hawkins

Describes alternative approaches to accounting for business activities during periods of inflation. Presents hints and techniques for analyzing financial statements during inflationary periods. A rewritten version of an earlier note. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Financial Statements; Inflation and Deflation

13 Jan 2021
Video

Kaelyn Griffin (MS/MBA 2021), Introduction

Video

Our Difference - Accounting

Article

Causal Inference in Accounting Research

By: Ian D. Gow, David F. Larcker and Peter C. Reiss

This paper examines the approaches accounting researchers use to draw causal inferences using observational (or non-experimental) data. The vast majority of accounting research papers draws causal inferences notwithstanding the well-known difficulties in doing so with... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Research

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June 2021 (Revised November 2024)
Case

MicroStrategy: Accounting for Cryptocurrency

By: Jonas Heese and Annelena Lobb

On February 15, 2021, Alina Moss, an analyst who covered the technology company MicroStrategy, pondered a rise in MicroStrategy’s share price. Moss had dialed into the company earnings call. When it ended, Moss had more questions than answers. MicroStrategy had... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Share Price; Electronic Commerce; Intangible Assets; Assets; Accounting; Financial Statements; Financial Management; Financial Reporting; Analytics and Data Science; E-commerce

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 07 Aug 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Financial Accounting

Learn how managers, Wall Street analysts, and entrepreneurs use an understanding of accounting to unlock critical insights from financial statements and drive strategic decision making. Program Dates: August 7, 2019 - October 2, 2019 View Details

29 May 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Introduction to the Future of Market Capitalism

distribution of wealth, environmental challenges, migration of workers, and the threat of protectionism. Governments and international organizations need to devise solutions to this problem. Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Re: Joseph L. Bower

January 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Course Overview Note

Introduction to Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; International Relations; Trade

February 1981
Supplement

AT&T Long Lines (D), Telemarketing: Introduction to Video 3

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: Marketing; Telecommunications Industry

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August 1997
Background Note

Accounting for Manufacturing Companies

By: Srikant M. Datar

The accounting for a manufacturing company is examined, including the flow of costs from raw materials to work in process to finished goods and the distribution between an inventoriable or product cost and a noninventoriable or period cost. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Product; Cost; Distribution; Accrual Accounting; Accounting; Manufacturing Industry

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 20 Mar 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Financial Accounting

Learn how managers, Wall Street analysts, and entrepreneurs use an understanding of accounting to unlock critical insights from financial statements and drive strategic decision making. Program Dates: March 20, 2019 - May 15, 2019 View Details

19 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting Information as Political Currency

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury; Accounting

11 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

June 2005 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Accounting at MacCloud Winery

By: David F. Hawkins, Robert S. Kaplan and Gregory S. Miller

Uses a fictional new winery to introduce accounting concepts and practices such as assets, liabilities, expenses, the matching principle, and contingent activities. Designed to approach the subject at a conceptual level, allowing class discussion to focus on the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Theory; Accounting

9 AM – 9:01 AM EDT, 16 Oct 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Financial Accounting

Learn how managers, Wall Street analysts, and entrepreneurs use an understanding of accounting to unlock critical insights from financial statements and drive strategic decision making. Program Dates: October 16, 2019 - December 11, 2019 View Details

9 AM – 10 AM EST, 09 Jan 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Financial Accounting

Learn how managers, Wall Street analysts, and entrepreneurs use an understanding of accounting to unlock critical insights from financial statements and drive strategic decision making. Program Dates: January 9, 2019 - March 6, 2019 View Details

August 2008
Article

The Implications of Unverifiable Fair-value Accounting: Evidence from the Political Economy of Goodwill Accounting

By: Karthik Ramanna

I study the evolution of SFAS 142, which uses unverifiable fair-value estimates to account for acquired goodwill. I find evidence consistent with the FASB issuing SFAS 142 in response to political pressure over its proposal to abolish pooling accounting. The result is... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Fair Values; Politics; Standard Setting; Fair Value Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Government Legislation; Agency Theory

SSRN

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July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
Case

The U.S. Current Account Deficit

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer

Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details

Keywords: World Economy; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; United States