Publications

2016
Book

An Easy Introduction to Financial Accounting: A Self-Study Guide

By: V.G. Narayanan

This book is a self-study guide written for someone who wishes to teach themselves basic financial accounting. It is based on a course by the same author that has been successfully completed by thousands of students worldwide. It explains concepts in simple language... View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Introduction To Financial Accounting; HBX; HBX CORe; HBX CORe Financial Accounting; Introduction To Accounting; Accounting

Article

Financial Shame Spirals: How Shame Intensifies Financial Hardship

By: Joe J. Gladstone, Jon M. Jachimowicz, Adam Eric Greenberg and Adam D. Galinsky

Financial hardship is an established source of shame. This research explores whether shame is also a driver and exacerbator of financial hardship. Six experimental, archival, and correlational studies (N = 9,110)—including data from customer bank account histories and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Hardship; Financial Decision-making; Shame; Guilt; Personal Finance; Financial Condition; Decision Making; Emotions

February 2007
Teaching Note

HBS Financial Accounting Tutorial (TN)

By: David F. Hawkins and Paul M. Healy

Keywords: Accounting; Finance; Information

Video

HBS Online Carousel - Financial Accounting

2008
Book

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

By: Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson traces the historical evolution of the financial system, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls "Planet Finance." In doing so, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history, from the... View Details

Keywords: Financial History; Money; Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Investment; Globalization

August 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Accounting Turbulence at Boeing

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane and James Barnett

Unlike its rival Airbus, Boeing had used a practice called program accounting to record its commercial aircraft expenses since the 1980s. Program accounting allowed Boeing to expense estimated average costs instead of the actual production costs of an aircraft. This... View Details

Keywords: Asset Recognition; Program Accounting; Airline Industry; Accounting; Production; Cost; Air Transportation 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

1978
Chapter

Information Content of Financial Accounting Numbers: A Survey of Empirical Evidence

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Accounting; Information

Web

Financial Accounting Online Course | HBS Online

This course is part of the Finance & Accounting track. Introduction to Financial Accounting ENROLL NOW No application needed for our certificate... View Details

March 2016
Teaching Note

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta

Since joining MasterCard (MC) in 2010, CEO Ajay Banga had made advancing financial inclusion (FI)—bringing formal financial services to marginalized populations—an important goal for the company. In 2014, MC had entered a number of partnerships with governments and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Inclusion; Banking; Equality and Inequality; Credit Cards; Developing Countries and Economies; Banking Industry; South Africa; Nigeria

June 2012
Case

Siemens AG: Key Account Management

By: Thomas Steenburgh, Michael Ahearne and Elena Corsi

The key account manager of an engineering company has to convince a department to give up important contracts. The German engineering company Siemens had set up a global key account management program since 2010. The key account manager of an emerging account had been... View Details

Keywords: Key Account Management; Commercialization; Marketing; Marketing Management; Engineering; Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Problems and Challenges; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

April 1999
Article

New International Accounting Standard: Recognition and Measurement of Financial Instruments

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Financial Instruments; Global Range; Accounting; Standards

June 2016 (Revised October 2016)
Technical Note

The Role of the Chief Financial Officer

By: C. Fritz Foley and Michael Lemm

This note profiles the role of the modern chief financial officer (CFO). It presents insights based on a variety of surveys and descriptions of HBS graduates who hold or have held the CFO role. Although the role varies significantly from one organization to another,... View Details

Keywords: CFO; Chief Financial Officer; Corporate Finance; Finance

August 2019
Case

Creating Accountability in Afghanistan

By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes and Grace Liu

By early 2019, the United States had contributed $132 billion to the Afghan reconstruction. John Sopko, in his role as the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was in charge of providing accountability for U.S. aid funding. Sopko’s oversight... View Details

Keywords: Auditing; Fraud; Accountability; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; Governance; Infrastructure; Information; Networks; Strategy; Afghanistan

October 1994
Article

Stock Buybacks: Avoid Accounting and Financial Statistic Traps

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Stocks; Accounting; Finance

June 2023
Case

Accounting for Loan Losses at JPMorgan Chase: Predicting Credit Costs

By: Jonas Heese, Jung Koo Kang and James Weber

The case examines the accounting for loan losses at a large bank, how a bank sets its Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) on its financial statements. ALLL, and the rules that set them, determine when banks would and would not extend loans, which significantly... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Standards; Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Banking Industry; United States

October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga was investing significant time and attention to increase financial inclusion among individuals with historically no access to banking or financial services in countries around the world with large underserved populations. The effort included... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Financial Services; Financial And Social Return; Financial Inclusion; Strategic Management; South Africa; Nigeria; Ajay Banga; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; South Africa; Nigeria