Publications

January 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Accounting for Catastrophes: BP PLC and Union Carbide Corporation (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

The IASB and FASB propose new contingency loss recognition, measurement, and disclosure rules (A case). The B and C cases apply these proposals to British Petroleum's Mexican Gulf oil spill and Union Carbide's Bhophal gas discharge. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Trade; International Finance; Standards; Strength and Weakness; Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Energy Industry; India

Educators

Purchase

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 accounting transparency. But such efforts address symptoms, not causes, of behaviors leading to purposely misleading financial... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

30 Jun 2013
News

Accounting rule change undermines US banks

2011
Book

Fair Value Measurements Answer Book

By: H. David Sherman

Save time and eliminate uncertainties with the Fair Value Measurements Answer Book (formerly the FAS 157 Answer Book), the most comprehensive and authoritative resource for getting quick and accurate information about the adoption, planning, and implementation of ASC... View Details

Keywords: ASC Topic 820; Fair Value Accounting; Corporate Disclosure

Purchase

17 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Evidence on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna & Ross L. Watts

June 1995
Case

Banc One Corporation (A)

As Banc One's use of derivatives had proliferated, investors and analysts had expressed increasing concern about the size of derivative portfolios, the potential sensitivity of their value to interest rate swings, and the lack of standardized reporting on their use.... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Annual Reports; Banking Industry

07 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Towards an Understanding of the Role of Standard Setters in Standard Setting

Keywords: by Abigail Allen & Karthik Ramanna; Accounting

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

December 2010
Article

Implications for GAAP from an Analysis of Positive Research in Accounting

By: S.P. Kothari, Karthik Ramanna and Douglas J. Skinner

Based on extant literature, we review the positive theory of GAAP. The theory predicts that GAAP's principal focus is on control (performance measurement and stewardship) and that verifiability and conservatism are critical features of a GAAP shaped by market forces.... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Standards; International Accounting; Financial Markets; Financial Reporting

SSRN

2014
Working Paper

Agenda Setting at the FASB: Evidence from the Role of the FASAC

By: Abigail Allen

I examine the extent to which the FASB's agenda determination is a function of the contemporaneous preferences of its primary constituents: auditors, preparers, and financial statement users. Using the FASB's consultation with the FASAC as a lens through which to view... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Industry; United States

SSRN

Article

Transparency as a Solution for the Hospital Capacity Problem

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

COVID dramatically clarified a shortcoming in our great healthcare system, but like everything in the world, it has its shortcomings. What we see through the apex of COVID is that many hospitals in hotspot areas cannot provide an adequate supply of beds. Although the... View Details

Keywords: Hospital Capacity; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Capacity; Planning; Cooperation

February 18, 2022
Article

Transparency as a Solution for COVID-19 Related Hospital Capacity Issues

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

In the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals could not provide an adequate supply of beds to meet demand. Solving the problem of hospital bed capacity is of great importance in the “new normal,” which requires recognizing that SARS-CoV-2 is but... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Care; Health Care Demand; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care Policy; Transparency; Hospital; Hospital Management; Hospitals; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Capacity; Policy; Health Industry

2007
Book

An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting? The State of the Art in Research and Thought Leadership on Accounting for Life Assurance in the UK and Continental Europe

By: Joanne G Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim

"Fair value" is currently the central topic of debate in the development of accounting standards. While it has now been defined to mean an exit price in US GAAP, the IASB is still considering its own definition, and some commentators are arguing for versions of entry... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Financial Instruments; Framework; Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Revenue Recognition; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; United Kingdom