Publications

April 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David Kiron

The principal players in WorldCom's accounting fraud included CFO Scott Sullivan, the General Accounting and Internal Audit departments, external auditor Arthur Andersen, and the board of directors. The case provides sufficient detail to allow for a full discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture; Corporate Governance; Accounting Audits

June 2009
Case

The Role of the Audit Committee in Risk Oversight

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

An audit committee chair considers how he can help his committee become more effective given the increasing regulatory demands on audit committees. He also wrestles with the lack of specificity in audit committee duties and whether his committee should take on... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Laws and Statutes; Risk Management

November 2011
Background Note

Auditing in the Post-Sarbanes-Oxley World

By: Anette Mikes, Gwen Yu and Dominique Hamel

Keywords: Accounting Audits

Article

Update on E-liability Accounting

By: Robert Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Piyush Jha

Since publication of the original E-liability carbon accounting paper (HBR, Nov 2021), we created the E-liability Institute to help companies, governments, and nonprofits implement the method. The Institute’s mission is to test and validate the method, and develop... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Carbon Footprint; Supply Chain; Environmental Sustainability; Environmental Accounting

Read Now

03 Mar 2003
What Do You Think?

Are Conditions Right for the Next Accounting Scandal?

auditors and audit committees whose mutual survival depends on each other, overly complicated accounting and tax systems, and the nature of the reporting relationships between internal auditors and those... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Accounting; Accounting

February 2013
Case

Diamond Foods, Inc.

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray

The Diamonds Foods, Inc. case describes the major accounting blow up at the company in late 2011 that was triggered by a report by Off Wall Street, a prominent short selling research firm. Diamond Foods, a high flying growth company in 2011, grew from a walnut farmers'... View Details

October 1990 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Marriott Corp.: The Internal Audit Function

By: Robert L. Simons

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Accommodations Industry

February 2014
Article

Accountability of Independent Directors—Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

By: Francois Brochet and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial- and disclosure-related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their re-election to express displeasure over... View Details

Keywords: Independent Directors; Litigation Risk; Class Action Lawsuits; Director Accountability; Reputation; Boards Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Debt Securities; Corporate Accountability; Lawsuits and Litigation

SSRN

October 1989
Background Note

Managing Major Accounts

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Written as an introduction to a module in the second-year MBA course, Marketing Implementation. Discusses issues encountered in the selling and management of major accounts. The topics covered include: 1) reasons for the increasing importance of major account... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Market Participation; Relationships; Salesforce Management

May 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Teaching Note

Marriott Corp.: The Internal Audit Function, Teaching Note

By: Robert L. Simons

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Accommodations Industry

01 Jan 1977
Conference Presentation

The Roles for Research and Development in Auditing

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Research and Development; Accounting Audits

January 27, 2011
Article

How to Keep Audit Committees In the Know

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Groups and Teams

1974
Report

An Actuarial Audit of the Social Security System

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Roman L. Weil

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Public Sector; Insurance

14 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Agenda for Corporate Accountability Reporting

How do you measure corporate accountability? And can you do it credibly? Since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, for-profit corporations are facing greater demand to disclose more than revenues and expenses on annual financial reports. In response, some are pointing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting; Energy; Utilities

June 10, 2002
Article

Audit the audit committees: VIEWPOINT PAUL HEALY AND KRISHNA PALEPU: After Enron, boards must change the focus and provide greater financial transparency

By: P. M. Healy

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Accounting Audits

2015
Working Paper

Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards

By: Abigail Allen, Karthik Ramanna and Sugata Roychowdhury

We examine how Big N auditors' changing incentives impact their comment-letter lobbying on U.S. GAAP over the first thirty-four years of the FASB (1973–2006). We examine the influence of auditors' lobbying incentives arising from three basic factors: managing expected... View Details

Keywords: Auditors; FASB; GAAP; Lobbying; Fair Value Accounting; Accounting Audits

2023
Working Paper

Accounting for Carbon Offsets – Establishing the Foundation for Carbon-Trading Markets

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Marc Roston

Tackling climate change requires reductions in current and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as the removal of existing GHG from the atmosphere. Carbon-offset producers purport to provide such removals. But poor measurement practices and inadequate controls... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Corporate Accountability