Publications

May 5, 1999
Article

International Accounting Standards Committee's Core Set of Standards: Reviewed and US GAAP Contrasted

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Accounting; Standards

October 1992 (Revised May 1993)
Background Note

Standard Costs and Variances

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

An introduction to standard costs and cost variances. Discussion, formulae, and examples introduce the idea of comparing actual costs to those that were expected. View Details

Keywords: Cost; Accounting

January 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

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

By: Karthik Ramanna, Karol Misztal and Daniela Beyersdorfer

In late 2012, IASB chair Hans Hoogervorst, just over a year into his term, must address several serious geopolitical challenges that can derail IFRS growth. The SEC has issued a report outlining why the U.S. should not adopt IFRS. Other major economies such as Japan... View Details

Keywords: IASB; IFRS; International Politics; Standard Setting; Accounting; International Accounting; International Relations; Government and Politics; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; China; Europe; United States

December 1999 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Standard International Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

The company top management must make a series of accounting decisions that will determine the company's quarterly income. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Inflation and Deflation; International Finance; Research and Development; Accounting Industry

January 1996
Background Note

Standard Costs and Variance Analysis

In an introduction to standard costs and cost variances, discussion, formulae, and examples explore the idea of comparing actual costs to those that were expected. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting

December 1999
Teaching Note

Standard International (TN)

By: David F. Hawkins and Norman Bartczak

Teaching Note for (9-100-064). View Details

Keywords: Accounting Industry

January 2008 (Revised May 2013)
Background Note

Accounting for Interest Rate Derivatives

Explains the accounting for interest rate derivatives under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 133. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Instruments; Interest Rates; Standards

October 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Subprime Crisis and Fair-Value Accounting

By: Paul M. Healy, Krishna G. Palepu and George Serafeim

This case examines the challenges in implementing fair value accounting for mortgage instruments, the role of accounting in the sub-prime crisis, and proposals for revising accounting standards given the crisis. View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Crisis; Debt Securities; Mortgages; Standards

Article

Update on E-liability Accounting

By: Robert Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Piyush Jha

Since publication of the original E-liability carbon accounting paper (HBR, Nov 2021), we created the E-liability Institute to help companies, governments, and nonprofits implement the method. The Institute’s mission is to test and validate the method, and develop... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Carbon Footprint; Supply Chain; Environmental Sustainability; Environmental Accounting

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April 2013
Article

The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization

By: Karthik Ramanna

The globalization of accounting standards as seen through the proliferation of IFRS worldwide is one of the most important developments in corporate governance over the last decade. I offer an analysis of some international political dynamics of countries' IFRS... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Standards; IASB; IFRS; Politics; International Accounting; Globalization; Standards; Corporate Governance; Canada; China; India

SSRN

02 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting for Organizational Employment Impact

Keywords: by David Freiberg, Katie Panella, George Serafeim, and T. Robert Zochowski

December 2022
Article

Cost Standard Set Program: Moving Forward to Standardization of Cost Assessment Based on Clinical Condition

By: Anna Paula Beck da Silva Etges, Richard D. Urman, Anne Geubelle, Robert Kaplan and Carisi Anne Polanczyk

This communication announces the International Cost Standard Set Program. Its goal is to establish global standardized frameworks for measuring the costs of treating specific clinical conditions. A scientific committee, including 16 international healthcare cost... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Value-based Health Care; Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Industry

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August 2009
Article

Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer

By: John Beshears and Katherine L. Milkman

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by comparing the purchases online grocery customers make when redeeming $10-off coupons with the purchases they make without coupons. Controlling for customer fixed effects and other variables, we... View Details

Keywords: Mental Accounting; Windfalls; Marginal Propensity To Consume; Coupons; Marketing Communications; Consumer Behavior; Accounting; Cognition and Thinking; Retail Industry

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September 2001
Background Note

Accounting for Computer Software Development Costs

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Tatiana Sandino

Summarizes the debate on accounting for computer software development costs. Provides a historical description of the development of standards on accounting of computer software development costs, both in the United States and internationally. Describes how, after much... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; United States

August 1983
Background Note

Balance of Payments: Accounting and Presentation

By: David B. Yoffie

Provides an overview of balance of payments accounting and analytical presentation of balance of payments data. Includes sample transactions to illustrate the application of the basic accounting principles and definitions of the standard balances. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Analytics and Data Science; Management; Standards; Mathematical Methods

Research Summary

Overview

Abigail's research to date has focused on the financial accounting standard setting process. Specifically, her current projects investigate the impacts of regulator backgrounds, constituent preferences, and lobbying incentives in the determination of US GAAP. Her... View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Political Economy; Capital Markets; Fair Value Accounting; Disclosure; International Accounting Standards

April 2022
Supplement

MicroStrategy: Accounting for Cryptocurrency (B)

By: Jonas Heese and Annelena Lobb

In early 2022, the technology firm MicroStrategy unveiled a series of letters with the SEC that questioned its accounting practices around its holdings of Bitcoin. Since 2020, the firm had shifted its strategy to include not just selling software but buying and holding... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Holding Structures; SEC; Accounting; Finance; Financial Strategy; Technology Industry