Publications

November 1985
Case

Omega Novelty Shop: Economic vs. Accounting Concepts

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Statements; Economics; Retail Industry

Web

Online Finance & Accounting Courses | HBS Online

Certificate Courses (5) Financial Accounting Professor V.G. Narayanan In this accounting fundamentals course, discover what's behind the numbers in View Details

03 Nov 2003
What Do You Think?

Can Investors Have Too Much Accounting Transparency?

Section 404, which will become common knowledge from Wall Street to Main Street, as well as rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in recent... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Accounting for Pensions and Employee Benefits at Ford and Toyota

Uses Ford's and Toyota's financial statements to familiarize students with the information provided in pension footnotes. Allows students to combine that information with other financial statement information to create a greater understanding of the costs of each... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Auto Industry

Educators

1990
Other Unpublished Work

Using and Interpreting Financial Statements

By: Marc L Bertoneche

Keywords: Financial Statements

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

Read Now

03 Oct 2019
News

Green Accounting: Financial Statements May Get New Life as Environmental-Sustainability Tool

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

01 Sep 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Behind Apple's Tax Situation, an Unprecedented Financial Policy

Keywords: Re: Mihir A. Desai; Technology; Consumer Products

Web

3. Financial Obligations | MBA

3. Financial Obligations 3.1 Student Accounts 3.2 Financial Aid 3.3 Student Cost of Attendance 3.4 Tuition & Fees 3.5 Withdrawals, Leaves of Absence, & Return of Federal/Title... View Details

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

Read Now

01 Mar 2009
News

Faculty Responds to Financial Crisis

and Global Financial Turmoil,” dealing with the U.S. system of financing homes; “Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008,” examining the impact of the financial crisis on executive pay; and “The Future... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

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

December 1995
Article

Primer on New Stock Option Accounting Alternatives

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Stocks; Accounting