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- All HBS Web
(234)
- News (52)
- Research (145)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (140)
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- April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank
By: Jonas Heese
In 2013, two employees debated whether to blow the whistle on their employer, Bell Bank, after completing an internal review that revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest. Bell Bank’s Asset Management business disproportionately invested clients’ money in Bell Bank’s... View Details
Keywords: Whistleblower; Whistleblowing; Mutual Funds; Conflicts Of Interest; Decision Making; Decisions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Financial Management; Investment; Investment Funds; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governance Controls; Policy; Law; Legal Liability; Social Psychology; Motivation and Incentives; Perception; Perspective; Trust; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States
Heese, Jonas. "Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank." Harvard Business School Case 122-022, April 2022. (Revised August 2022.)
- September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
Icahn Enterprises: Ponzi Scheme or Sound Investment
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber
Icahn Enterprises, a publicly traded limited partnership founded and operated by famed activist investor Carl Icahn, had earned above market returns for over a decade. Between 2018 and early 2023, it had a compound annual return of 31%. Icahn invested in undervalued... View Details
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Icahn Enterprises: Ponzi Scheme or Sound Investment." Harvard Business School Case 124-013, September 2023. (Revised January 2024.)
- Article
When the Local Newspaper Leaves Town: The Effects of Local Newspaper Closures on Corporate Misconduct
By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Caspar David Peter
We examine whether the local press is an effective monitor of corporate misconduct. Specifically, we study the effects of local newspaper closures on violations by local facilities of publicly listed firms. After a local newspaper closure, local facilities increase... View Details
Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, and Caspar David Peter. "When the Local Newspaper Leaves Town: The Effects of Local Newspaper Closures on Corporate Misconduct." Journal of Financial Economics 145, no. 2B (August 2022): 445–463.
- January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A)
By: Jonas Heese and David Lane
In August 2019, Harry Markopolos—the forensic accountant known for uncovering Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme—alleged that General Electric had committed accounting fraud totaling $38 billion, coining the term “GEnron” for perceived similarities with the 2001 accounting... View Details
Keywords: Financial Statements; Communication; Energy; Financial Condition; Insurance; Performance; Planning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Value; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry
Heese, Jonas, and David Lane. "'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A)." Harvard Business School Case 121-005, January 2021. (Revised May 2021.)
- June 2024
- Article
The Monitoring Role of Social Media
By: Jonas Heese and Joseph Pacelli
In this study, we examine whether social media activity can reduce corporate misconduct. We use the staggered introduction of 3G mobile broadband access across the United States to identify exogenous increases in social media activity and test whether access to 3G... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Twitter; Corporate Accountability; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks
Heese, Jonas, and Joseph Pacelli. "The Monitoring Role of Social Media." Review of Accounting Studies 29, no. 2 (June 2024): 1666–1706.
- September 2019
- Case
Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber
Stephen Scott needed to decide whether to keep his behavioral analytics startup in the people analytics sector or shift his company into the RegTech sector. Starling had develop technology that enabled its customers to anticipate and shape the behavior of their... View Details
Keywords: Behavioral Analytics; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Banking Industry; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; United Kingdom
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations." Harvard Business School Case 120-006, September 2019.
- December 2022
- Article
Does Industry Employment of Active Regulators Weaken Oversight?
By: Jonas Heese
I study whether industry employment of active regulators weakens oversight. To examine this question, I exploit that the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP), the German capital-market regulator responsible for enforcing public firms’ compliance with accounting... View Details
Keywords: Conflict-of-interest Policies; Directorships; Enforcement Actions; Industry Employment; Self-regulatory Organizations; Governance Compliance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Conflict of Interests
Heese, Jonas. "Does Industry Employment of Active Regulators Weaken Oversight?" Management Science 68, no. 12 (December 2022): 9198–9218.
- October 2019
- Case
Regtech at HSBC
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber
Mark Cooke, Global Head of Operational Risk, needed to decide between a traditional regulatory control system and a new regtech system to manage non-financial risks.
Non-financial risks failures such as money laundering and tax evasion had cost HSBC billions of... View Details
Keywords: Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Regtech at HSBC." Harvard Business School Case 120-046, October 2019.
- June 2019
- Article
Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting
By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos
This paper examines whether fraud allegations affect firms’ contracting with the government. Using a dataset of whistleblower allegations brought under the False Claims Act against firms accused of defrauding the government, we find that federal agencies do not reduce... View Details
Keywords: Whistleblower; Fraud Allegations; False Claims Act; Government Contracting; Risk Allocation; Government and Politics; Contracts; Crime and Corruption; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Government Relations
Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting." Journal of Accounting Research 57, no. 3 (June 2019): 675–719.
- 2018
- Article
The Role of Overbilling in Hospitals' Earnings Management Decisions
By: Jonas Heese
This paper examines the role of overbilling in hospitals’ earnings management choices. Overbilling by hospitals is a form of revenue manipulation that involves misclassifying a patient into a diagnosis-related group that yields higher reimbursement. As overbilling... View Details
Keywords: Overbilling; Accrual-based Earnings Management; Real Activities Manipulation; For-profit Hospitals; Earnings Management; Health Industry
Heese, Jonas. "The Role of Overbilling in Hospitals' Earnings Management Decisions." European Accounting Review 27, no. 5 (2018).
- July 2021
- Case
'Why I Blew the Whistle': Mauro Botta v. PwC
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Sarah Mehta
Set in April 2021, this case tells the story of Mauro Botta, a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In 2016, Botta filed a whistleblower claim with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that PwC had failed to fulfill its obligations to remain... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Audits; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Governance; Corporate Governance; Accounting Industry; United States; California; San Jose
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Sarah Mehta. "'Why I Blew the Whistle': Mauro Botta v. PwC." Harvard Business School Case 122-005, July 2021.
- April–May 2021
- Article
The Effect of Retaliation Costs on Employee Whistleblowing
By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos
We use large increases in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to study the effects of expected retaliation costs on employee whistleblowing. Increases in UI benefits reduce the costs that arise from a job loss, one of the costliest forms of retaliation. We find that... View Details
Keywords: Employee Whistleblowing; Retaliation Costs; Labor Unemployment Insurance; Workplace Safety Inspections
Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "The Effect of Retaliation Costs on Employee Whistleblowing." Art. 101385. Journal of Accounting & Economics 71, nos. 2-3 (April–May 2021).
- December 2024
- Article
Human Bias in the Oversight of Firms: Evidence from Workplace Safety Violations
By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Andreya Pérez Silva
We study the effects of mood as a source of human bias on regulators’ oversight and enforcement decisions. We use weather at facilities at the time of an OSHA inspection to proxy for the OSHA compliance officers’ mood. We find that during periods of good mood due to... View Details
Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Happiness; Working Conditions; Safety
Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, and Andreya Pérez Silva. "Human Bias in the Oversight of Firms: Evidence from Workplace Safety Violations." Review of Accounting Studies 29, no. 4 (December 2024): 3413–3448.
- February 2021
- Article
The Department of Justice as a Gatekeeper in Whistleblower-Initiated Corporate Fraud Enforcement: Drivers and Consequences
By: Jonas Heese, Ranjani Krishnan and Hari Ramasubramanian
We examine drivers and consequences of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) oversight of whistleblower cases of corporate fraud against the government. We find that the DOJ is more likely to intervene in and conduct longer investigations of cases that have a higher chance... View Details
Keywords: Whistleblowing; Department Of Justice; DOJ Enforcement; Performance Measures; False Claims Act; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement
Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Hari Ramasubramanian. "The Department of Justice as a Gatekeeper in Whistleblower-Initiated Corporate Fraud Enforcement: Drivers and Consequences." Journal of Accounting & Economics 71, no. 1 (February 2021).
- November 2014
- Case
Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang
By: Tom Nicholas and Jonas Peter Akins
Napalm is one of the most destructive weapons ever to be invented. Yet, at its original inception it was nothing more than a technical challenge, and it was never intended to be used in indiscriminate antipersonnel warfare. The pathway of its development by a Harvard... View Details
Keywords: Moral Sensibility; War; Chemicals; Research and Development; Chemical Industry; Viet Nam; Cambridge; United States
Nicholas, Tom, and Jonas Peter Akins. "Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang." Harvard Business School Case 815-060, November 2014.
- December 2024
- Article
Coordinating the Energy Transition: Electrifying Transportation in California and Germany
By: Nicholas Goedeking and Jonas Meckling
California and Germany share ambitious emission reduction targets. Yet California is ahead of Germany in electrifying transportation by several metrics, including the number of public charging stations. We show that variation in the politics of coordination in... View Details
Keywords: Electric Vehicles; Coordination; Technology Adoption; Infrastructure; Transportation; Government and Politics; Energy; Utilities Industry; Germany; California
Goedeking, Nicholas, and Jonas Meckling. "Coordinating the Energy Transition: Electrifying Transportation in California and Germany." Art. 114321. Energy Policy 195 (December 2024).
- December 2021
- Article
Cash-for-Information Whistleblower Programs: Effects on Whistleblowing and Consequences for Whistleblowers
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos
We study the effect of financial incentives on whistleblowing and the consequences for whistleblowers under the cash-for-information program of the False Claims Act (FCA). Exploiting appeals-court decisions that increase financial incentives for whistleblowing, we find... View Details
Keywords: Whistleblowers; Cash-for-information Whistleblower Programs; False Claims Act; Corporate Misconduct; Consequences For Whistleblowers; Crime and Corruption; Information; Cost
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Cash-for-Information Whistleblower Programs: Effects on Whistleblowing and Consequences for Whistleblowers." Journal of Accounting Research 59, no. 5 (December 2021): 1689–1740.
- 13 Jan 2015
- First Look
First Look: January 13
Enforcement By: Heese, Jonas Abstract—I examine whether political pressure by the government as a response to voters' general interest in protecting employment is reflected in the enforcement actions View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- December 2016
- Article
Selective Regulator Decoupling and Organizations' Strategic Responses
By: Jonas Heese, Ranjani Krishnan and Frank Moers
Organizations often respond to institutional pressures by symbolically adopting policies and procedures but decoupling them from actual practice. Literature has examined why organizations decouple from regulatory pressures. In this study, we argue that decoupling... View Details
Keywords: Regulator Leniency; Beneficence; Mispricing; Upcoding; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Revenue; Health Industry
Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Frank Moers. "Selective Regulator Decoupling and Organizations' Strategic Responses." Academy of Management Journal 59, no. 6 (December 2016). (Selected for Best Paper Proceedings of the 2015 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Winner of the Healthcare Management Division of the Academy of Management 2015 Best Paper Award.)
- August 2023
- Article
Taking Stock of the Implementation Gap in Climate Policy
By: Taryn Fransen, Jonas Meckling, Anna Stunzi, Tobias Schmidt, Florian Egli, Nicolas Schmid and Christopher Beaton
A gap persists between the emissions reductions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement and those resulting from their domestic policies. We argue that this gap in fact contains two parts: one in the policies that countries adopt, and the other in the outcomes... View Details
Keywords: Emission Reduction; Outcome or Result; Policy; Environmental Regulation; Equality and Inequality
Fransen, Taryn, Jonas Meckling, Anna Stunzi, Tobias Schmidt, Florian Egli, Nicolas Schmid, and Christopher Beaton. "Taking Stock of the Implementation Gap in Climate Policy." Nature Climate Change 13, no. 8 (August 2023): 752–755.