Publications

June 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Amazon.com in the Year 2000

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Jeremy Cott

An analyst's critique of Amazon's prospectus from the perspective of its bond holders. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Accounting Audits; Financial Reporting; Governing and Advisory Boards; Internet and the Web; Forecasting and Prediction; Retail Industry

12 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

One Report: Better Strategy through Integrated Reporting

problem where many actors must collaborate together, including companies, investors, accounting firms, sell-side analysts, regulators and standard setters, and NGOs and civil society itself. We all have a responsibility for making... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Protecting Yourself Against Phishing | Information Technology

act quickly before you have a chance to think it through. False Claims of Urgency Phishers will try to get you to react quickly, without thinking. Often these come in the way of threatening that something bad will happen if you don't take action immediately. For... View Details

March 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Teaching Note

The IASB at a Crossroads: The Future of International Financial Reporting Standards

By: Karthik Ramanna

Teaching Note for 111084 and 113089. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Strategy; Corporate Governance; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Standards; Problems and Challenges; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; China

01 Mar 2009
News

Where Are They Now?

holds the Deloitte & Touche LLP Chair of Accountancy at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, looks back at his teaching career at HBS with fondness, he has no regrets about leaving when he did in 1990. “I... View Details

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

Web

Eligibility - Research Computing Services

Usage and Policies Eligibility 108ms Except where noted in our terms of service and policy documentation, an active appointment or enrollment with Harvard Business School, or sponsorship by someone with an active appointment, is required for access to RCS resources.... View Details

January 2006
Article

Conflicts of Interest and the Case of Auditor Independence: Moral Seduction and Strategic Issue Cycling.

By: Don A. Moore, Philip E. Tetlock, Lloyd Tanlu and Max H. Bazerman

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Accounting Audits; Moral Sensibility; Strategy

Find at Harvard

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A) (Abridged)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Owens & Minor (O&M) performed lean inventory services for Virginia Mason (VM) as its Alpha Vendor, but the outdated industry pricing model created perverse incentives and could not capture O&M's costs. Together, O&M and VM created an activity-based pricing model: Total... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Model; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Asset Pricing; Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

July 1990 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) (Abridged)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Cost; Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Business Strategy; Electronics Industry; Manufacturing Industry

2008
Working Paper

An Investigation of Earnings Management through Marketing Actions

By: Craig James Chapman and Thomas J. Steenburgh

Prior research hypothesizes managers use "real actions," including the reduction of discretionary expenditures, to manage earnings to meet or beat key benchmarks. This paper examines this hypothesis by testing how different types of marketing expenditures are used... View Details

Keywords: Performance Expectations; Earnings Management; Marketing Strategy; Financial Reporting; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

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August 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Electronic Arts Introduces The Sims Online

By: Youngme E. Moon

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent game publisher, is preparing to launch an online, subscription-based version of the most popular PC game in history: The Sims. The new game is called "The Sims Online" and it differs from the original game in two... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Decision Making; Price; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Internet; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

September 1969 (Revised June 1976)
Case

Control Data Corp. (D)

Set in 1965, at a time when the company's mix of "sales" was shifting increasingly to customer leasing of its computers, the student is asked to evaluate possible revisions in the policies for depreciating the cost of a leased computer. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Leasing