Publications

December 2022
Supplement

Driving Decarbonization at BMW - Video Supplement

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

Videos of Thomas Becker, Vice President of Sustainability and Mobility at BMW Group, in support of the case "Driving Decarbonization at BMW" (HBS No. 123-008) View Details

October 2018 (Revised May 2019)
Teaching Note

Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

By: Joseph Fuller, Shikhar Ghosh and Monica Baraldi

Teaching Note for HBS No. 816-048. The case tells the story of a product manager within Intuit who develops an idea for a new product that spans two of the company's existing business units—professional tax software, sold to accountants, and the consumer focused... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business or Company Management; Applications and Software; Accounting; Product Development; Financial Services Industry

June 1995
Case

AT&T's Acquisition of NCR

Dennis R. Beresford, Chairman of the FASB, reflects on the AT&T and NCR merger and AT&T's desire to qualify the transaction for pooling of interest treatment, an accounting method allowing companies to record assets acquired in business combinations at historical cost... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Accounting; Telecommunications Industry

June 2001 (Revised January 2006)
Background Note

Mechanics of Financial Accounting, The

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

Explains in simple terms and numerical examples how the language of accounting is spoken and communicated to financial statement users. Describes terms such as "debits," "credits," "journal entries," "t-accounts," and "financial statements." View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Statements

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Lyons Document Storage Corporation: Bond Math

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

In 2009 a recent MBA must analyze the possible refunding of bonds issued in 2000 when interest rates were much higher. She must consider the possible consequences of repurchasing company bonds outstanding using cash that might be obtained by issuing new bonds at a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Quantitative Analysis; Securities; Debt Securities; Bonds; Cash Flow; Mathematical Methods; Accounting; Interest Rates

March 2001 (Revised April 2001)
Case

General Electric 2000: Quality of Earnings Assessment

By: David F. Hawkins

A financial analyst reviews General Electric's financial reports to learn more about U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and how they differs from international accounting standards. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Accounting Audits; International Accounting; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2018
Simulation

Financial Analysis Simulation: Data Detective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and V.G. Narayanan

In this simulation, students learn to identify typical industry characteristics revealed in financial data. Equipped with an interactive and flexible set of tools, students analyze disguised financials and—using their knowledge of operational practices and reasoning... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Financial Accounting; Financial Ratios; Accounting; Financial Statements; Analysis

2014
Chapter

Remapping the Flow of Funds

By: Juliane Begenau, Monika Piazzesi and Martin Schneider

This article argues that quantitative analysis of credit market positions would benefit tremendously if the additional information about the structure of payment streams were more readily available. Most available data on credit market positions, such as the Flow of... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Credit

October 2014
Article

Sovereigns, Upstream Capital Flows and Global Imbalances

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych

We construct measures of net private and public capital flows for a large cross-section of developing countries considering both creditor and debtor side of the international debt transactions. Using these measures, we demonstrate that sovereign-to-sovereign... View Details

Keywords: Current Account; Aid/government Debt; Reserves; Puzzles; Productivity; Sovereign Finance; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics

Read Now

Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 55, No. 1 (February 2013), pp. 66–90.

We investigate the effect of standard setters in standard setting. We examine how certain professional and political characteristics of FASB members and SEC commissioners... View Details

2009
Article

The Dynamics of Silencing Conflict

By: Leslie Perlow and Nelson Repenning

In many organizations, when people perceive a difference with another they often do not fully express themselves. Despite creating innumerable problems, silencing conflict is a persistent phenomenon. While the antecedents of acts of silence are well documented, little... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Style; Conflict Management; Societal Protocols

May 1999
Case

The Saga of Prince Jefri and KPMG (A): Mystery of the Missing Billions

By: Ashish Nanda

Accounting and law firms around the globe are following with great interest the progress through British courts of a lawsuit. Those familiar with the suit, filed by Prince Jefri of Brunei against the professional service firm KPMG Peat Marwick, remark that its judgment... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Service Industry

24 Apr 2019
HBS Seminar

Dimitris Papanikolaou, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

July 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Société Internationale de Plantations et de Finance (SIPEF)

By: David Hawkins

Management of a company with extensive palm oil tree plantations questions the usefulness to management and investors of IAS41's requirement to value palm oil trees at their fair value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; International Financial Reporting Standards; International Accounting Standards; Biological Asset Accounting; IAS41; Historical Cost; Equity Valuation; Financial Ratios; Plant-Based Agribusiness; International Accounting; Valuation; Financial Reporting; Fair Value Accounting; Equity; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Article

The Effect of Dividends on Consumption

By: Malcolm Baker, Stefan Nagel and Jeffrey Wurgler

Classical models predict that the division of stock returns into dividends and capital appreciation does not affect investor consumption patterns, while mental accounting and other economic frictions predict that investors have a higher propensity to consume from... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Return; Economics; Stocks; Capital; Business Earnings; Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Cost; Saving

Read Now

10 Nov 2008
Research Event

Social Media Leads the Future of Technology

sticking point currently for businesses is spanning the gap between the physical and the digital world, he continued. "Right now there are significant problems understanding how to take what we are getting at point View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2006
Article

Voluntary Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations: Coordinating Duties of Rescue and Justice

By: Nien-he Hsieh

This paper examines the extent to which the voluntary adoption of codes of conduct by multinational corporations (MNCs) renders MNCs accountable for the performance of actions specified in a code of conduct. In particular, the paper examines the ways in which codes of... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures

August 1977 (Revised February 1981)
Background Note

Introduction to Balance of Payments Analysis

By: Bruce R. Scott

Minimal background to permit interpretation of positive or negative balances in the key summary accounts of a balance of payments statement; also to permit relating these balances and relevant supporting detail to a possible national development strategy. Designed for... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Development Economics; Planning; Accounting Industry; Canada