Publications

Web

3.2 Financial Aid - MBA

3. Financial Obligations 3.2 Financial Aid Welcome to HBS Being a Student at HBS 1. Academic Information & Policies 2. Integrity & Standards of Conduct 3. View Details

03 Nov 2003
What Do You Think?

Can Investors Have Too Much Accounting Transparency?

Summing Up Basic conclusions that can be drawn from responses to this month's column are that it may or may not be useful to try to legislate View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

May 1990 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Note on Financial Reporting Strategy and Analysis When Managers Have Proprietary Information

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Provides a framework that helps explain these real-world observations about accounting and financial statement analysis. When managers have superior information on firms' strategies, and when investors suspect that managers have incentives not to fully disclose this... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Strategy; Knowledge Management

Educators

May 2024
Article

Financial Innovation in the 21st Century: Evidence from U.S. Patents

By: Josh Lerner, Amit Seru, Nick Short and Yuan Sun

We develop a unique dataset of 24 thousand U.S. finance patents granted over the last two decades to explore the evolution and production of financial innovation. We use machine learning to identify the financial patents and extensively audit the results to ensure... View Details

Keywords: Banking; Investment Banks; Information Technology; Regulation; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Trends

2011
Working Paper

Top Executive Background and Financial Reporting Choice

By: Francois Brochet and Kyle Travis Welch

We study the role of executive functional background in explaining management discretion in financial reporting. Taking goodwill impairment as our reporting setting, we focus on top executives (CEOs and CFOs) whose employment history includes experience in investment... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Goodwill Accounting; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Managerial Roles; Agency Theory

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July – August 2008
Article

Reduce the Risk of Failed Financial Judgments

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Edward J. Riedl

When crucial financial estimates rely on judgment, companies can minimize their risk by turning to appraisers, actuaries, and evaluators, whether internal, external, or a combination. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Judgments; Financial Management; Risk Management

July 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Policy Management Systems Corp.: The Financial Reporting Crisis

Tim Williams, the new CFO of a publicly-traded enterprise software company, attempts to rebuild his company's reputation for reliable financial reporting following a highly visible financial reporting crisis. The crisis begins with an earnings shortfall warning, which... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Capital Markets; Policy; Corporate Governance; Accounting Audits; Technology Industry

Educators

Web

Online Finance & Accounting Courses | HBS Online

inform decision-making. We recommend beginning this pathway with Financial Accounting. Financial Accounting Leading with Finance Alternative Investments Why Should You Learn... View Details

September 2021
Article

Did Technology Contribute to the Housing Boom? Evidence from MERS

By: Stefan Lewellen and Emily Williams

We examine the effects of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, on mortgage origination volumes and foreclosure rates prior to the Great Recession. MERS was introduced in the late 1990s and significantly reduced the cost and time associated with... View Details

Keywords: Credit Supply; Housing Boom; Financial Innovation; Nonbank Lenders; Mortgages; Credit; Expansion; Information Technology; Outcome or Result

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April 2009
Case

The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

The global economy was expected to suffer from negative growth for the full year in 2009, a phenomenon not seen since World War II. While the U.S. subprime mortgage disaster was blamed as the original instigator, it was noted that the "global imbalances" of the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; International Relations; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution

Educators

2013
Book

Business Analysis and Valuation: Using Financial Statements, Text and Cases

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Paul M. Healy

This book provides a framework for business analysis and has been used by business schools throughout the world. It provides a foundation for analysis using four key steps: 1) Strategy analysis: Identifying a firm's strategy and understanding sources of its competitive... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Debt Securities; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Financial Statements; Credit; Business Ventures; Strategy; Financial Condition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction

February 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Exercise

Accounting for Pensions at General Motors Corporation (A)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

A potential investor in General Motors is gathering information about investment in General Motor's stock. The investigation leads the investor to review the General Motor's Web site and several CNBC interviews of General Motors' executives. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

18 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Non-Audit Services and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from 1978-1980

Keywords: by Kevin Koh, Shivaram Rajgopal & Suraj Srinivasan; Accounting

12 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Investors Often Lose When They Sue Their Financial Adviser

research about malfeasance among financial advisers and the impact on investors. The degree to which a panel favors the defending company accounts for 24 percent of the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

July 2015
Article

Executives' 'Off-the-Job' Behaviors and Financial Reporting Risk

By: Robert Davidson, Aiyesha Dey and Abbie Smith

We examine how executives' behavior outside the workplace, as measured by their ownership of luxury goods (low “frugality”) and prior legal infractions, is related to financial reporting risk. We predict and find that chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Behavior; Personal Characteristics; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture

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December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

SSRN

April 2012
Article

Bouncing Out of the Banking System: An Empirical Analysis of Involuntary Bank Account Closures

By: Dennis Campbell, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez and Peter Tufano

Using a new database, we document the factors that relate to the extent of involuntary consumer bank account closure resulting from excessive overdraft activity. Consumers who have accounts involuntarily closed for overdraft activity may have limited or no access to... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Customers; Social Issues; Outcome or Result; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Competition; Banks and Banking; Policy; Personal Characteristics; Credit; Employment; United States

August 2022
Supplement

Sweet Teez Bakery: Projecting the Dough’s Rise Financial Supplement

By: Emily R. McComb, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein

Abstract: In 2021, the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team met with entrepreneur Teresa Maynard, who had applied for a $25,000 impact investment loan. The students thought the former Harvard Data Scientist’s bakery business, Sweet Teez Bakery, showed promise.... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Goods and Commodities; Financial Reporting; Small Business; Food and Beverage Industry; Massachusetts; United States