Publications

September 2009
Article

Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf

Using an experimental design I elicit causal effects of spousal observability and communication on financial choices of married individuals in the Philippines. Making choices public moves men from putting money into their own account to consumption; communication with... View Details

Keywords: Intra-household; Bargaining; Experiments; Economic Development; Saving; Governance Controls; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Household; Gender

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George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He co-leads a Lab, within Harvard's Digital, Data, Design Institute, and serves on the faculty steering commitee of Harvard University's Salata Institute. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

September 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Microsoft's Financial Reporting Strategy

Explores Microsoft's overall financial reporting strategy by examining the company's treatment of two accounting issues--software capitalization and revenue recognition. For both issues, the company selects accounting methods that are relatively conservative. Also... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Information Technology Industry

March 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Bridging the GAAPs

By: Gwen Yu

Inconsistencies in accounting treatment across countries are a major obstacle for global equity investment. Adoption of a single accounting standard (IFRS) has been received with much excitement, where apples to apples comparison across countries will become easier.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Private Equity; Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries; Information Management; Standards; Valuation

29 Jul 2017
News

Fund managers challenged to confront lack of ethnic diversity

September 2001
Background Note

Financial Reporting Environment, The

By: Paul M. Healy, Amy P. Hutton, Robert S. Kaplan and Krishna G. Palepu

Provides a framework for understanding the role of financial reporting and various intermediaries as mechanisms for reducing both adverse selection and moral hazard problems in capital markets. Financial reports reduce adverse selection by providing basic information... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Corporate Disclosure; Conflict of Interests

2020
Working Paper

Are ISS Recommendations Informative? Evidence from Assessments of Compensation Practices

By: Ana Albuquerque, Mary Ellen Carter and Susanna Gallani

Using detailed information from the largest proxy advisor in the U.S., Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), we examine whether proxy advisors’ assessments of firms’ compensation practices are able to identify poor compensation practices as measured by subsequent... View Details

Keywords: Proxy Advisors; CEO Compensation; Say-on-Pay; Institutional Shareholder Voting; Executive Compensation; Performance

SSRN

17 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consequences of Voluntary and Mandatory Fair Value Accounting: Evidence Surrounding IFRS Adoption in the EU Real Estate Industry

Keywords: by Karl A. Muller III, Edward J. Riedl & Thorsten Sellhorn; Construction; Real Estate

February 2020
Article

Tales of Two Motives: Disclosure and Concealment

By: Leslie John, Michael L. Slepian and Diana Tamir

We posit that the desire to disclose personal information, and the desire to conceal it, are related yet distinct psychological motives. People often wish to conceal information, such as embarrassing aspects of the self. Yet people also seek to reveal information, such... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Privacy; Information; Motivation and Incentives

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May 2022
Article

Coins for Bombs: The Predictive Ability of On-Chain Transfers for Terrorist Attacks

By: Dan Amiram, Evgeny Lyandres and Daniel Rabetti

This study examines whether we can learn from the behavior of blockchain-based transfers to predict the financing of terrorist attacks. We exploit blockchain transaction transparency to map millions of transfers for hundreds of large on-chain service providers. The... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Bitcoin; Accounting; AI and Machine Learning; National Security; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Research Summary

Analyst Disagreement, Forecast Bias and Stock Returns

We present evidence of inefficient information processing in equity markets by documenting that biases in analysts' earnings forecasts are reflected in stock prices. In particular, investors fail to account for analysts' tendency to withhold negative views and to issue... View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Aiyesha Dey

Financial Reporting and Control
Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability... View Details

October 2007
Article

The Influence of Financial Statement Recognition and Analyst Coverage on the Market's Valuation of R&D Capital

By: Michael D. Kimbrough

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 141 (SFAS No. 141)'s requirement that an acquirer in a business combination estimate the fair value of the target's separately identifiable assets and liabilities (including research and development capital) provides a rare... View Details

Keywords: Information; Value Creation; Fair Value Accounting; Research and Development; Financial Statements; Capital

23 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Financial Reporting Goes Global

to write about globalization, accounting standards and, in particular, Indian accounting standards? Gregory Miller: Globalization is the major issue in determining the future of financial reporting. As... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell; Accounting; Accounting

TeachingInterests

Financial Reporting and Control

By: Paul M. Healy

Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability for performance through effective... View Details

TeachingInterests

Financial Reporting and Control

Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability for performance through effective... View Details

13 May 2002
Op-Ed

A Cure for Enron-Style Audit Failures

with information regarding alternative GAAP methods that would result in different accounting outcomes and with figures outlining those differences. The reasons for the committee's acceptance of the... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Lorsch; Accounting

October 2023
Article

Matching Mechanisms for Refugee Resettlement

By: David Delacrétaz, Scott Duke Kominers and Alexander Teytelboym

Current refugee resettlement processes account for neither the preferences of refugees nor the priorities of hosting communities. We introduce a new framework for matching with multidimensional knapsack constraints that captures the (possibly multidimensional) sizes of... View Details

Keywords: Refugee Resettlement; Matching; Matching Markets; Matching Platform; Matching With Contracts; Algorithms; Refugees; Market Design

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January 1993 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Adventurous Computer Games, Inc.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A new company producing computer games must begin to capitalize computer software development cost. To do so requires a cost accounting system, decisions about which costs to capitalize, and how to match costs to future revenues. Teaches accounting standards for... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Applications and Software; Cost Accounting; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry