Publications

February 2011 (Revised October 2018)
Case

ALAC International

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

ALAC was a small importer of specialty industrial chemicals. The case explores the different financing alternatives to facilitate the company's explosive growth in working capital. At the end of 2009, the company was awarded the United States distributorship for the... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Growth Management; Financing and Loans; Chemical Industry

February 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

ENSR International

What is the best way to "sell" consulting services? Should the firm focus on key accounts? Should it have dedicated salespeople? How should the firm account for "selling" activities in its compensation plan? ENSR is an environmental consulting firm located in Westford,... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

January 1997 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Dendrite International (Condensed)

By: John A. Deighton

This version has been shortened to concentrate on the issue of managing a long selling process and long post-sale account relationship. The focus on the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan is preserved. Broader questions of expansion into... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Sales; Expansion; Chemical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan; 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

October 2010 (Revised July 2013)
Case

ActionAid International: Globalizing Governance, Localizing Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Rachel Gordon

As a global NGO working in 45 countries, ActionAid International aims to eradicate poverty by addressing its underlying causes such as injustice and inequality. This case follows a series of radical transformations implemented by the organization's CEO, Ramesh Singh—a... View Details

Keywords: Local Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Power and Influence; Johannesburg; London

October 1993 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Champion International

By: David F. Hawkins

Management must decide which first quarter's earnings numbers to report. The company is classified by its securities market as a "growth" company. The corporate controller prefers a quarterly earnings figure that represents a decline in earnings. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Financial Reporting; Judgments; Leadership; Management Teams; Corporate Disclosure

2012
Working Paper

A Framework for Research on Corporate Accountability Reporting

By: Karthik Ramanna

This paper provides an accounting-based conceptual framing of the phenomenon of corporate accountability reporting. Such reporting is seen as arising from a delegator's (e.g., a citizenry) demand to hold a delegate (e.g., shareholders) to account. When effective,... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Corporate Reporting; For-Profit Firms; Framework; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Research; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues

SSRN

January 1997
Article

Moving toward Three New International Accounting Standards: Employee Benefits, Discontinued Operations, and Provisions and Contingencies

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Accounting; Standards

November 1999 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

Accounting for Foreign Operations

By: David F. Hawkins

Students are required to compute and explain the quality annual earnings per share figures and major differences between managing domestic and global operations. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Financial Statements; International Accounting; Globalized Firms and Management

03 Mar 2003
What Do You Think?

Are Conditions Right for the Next Accounting Scandal?

auditors and audit committees whose mutual survival depends on each other, overly complicated accounting and tax systems, and the nature of the reporting relationships between internal auditors and those... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Accounting; Accounting

April 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Fermenting Accounting Problems at Vermont Kombucha Corp.

By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann

Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams,... View Details

Keywords: Going Public; Business Model; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Corporate Governance; Stock Shares; Food and Beverage Industry

16 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna; 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

28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

international non-governmental organizations. My testimony focuses on reform and accountability efforts undertaken at the World Bank over the past fifteen years, particularly those in which civil society... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

May 1992 (Revised January 2000)
Supplement

ABB: Accountability Times Two (B)

By: Robert L. Simons

Describes internal allocation conflicts in a complex global company structured as a matrix organization. ABB Switzerland has secured and will build an important power station project; however, internal market allocation policies dictate that this work be handled by ABB... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Conflict Management; Complexity; Sweden; Switzerland

December 2020
Article

Multinational Firms and the Politics of International Trade in Multidisciplinary Perspective

By: Grace A. Ballor and Aydin B. Yildirim

From the technical analyses of wide ranges of scholars to the public discourse backlashes against globalization, there is a huge volume of work historicizing, quantifying, and problematizing the complex role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in international trade.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporations; International Trade; Big Business; Economic Governance; Global Value Chains; Trade Policy; Corporate Regulation; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Policy; Governance; Globalization

Read Now

Research Summary

Management Control Issues of International Ventures

William J. Bruns, Jr. is conducting (with Sharon M. McKinnon of Northeastern University) a field study of control issues that arise in international ventures between U.S. and European companies. Bruns' research is aimed at answering questions raised by earlier... View Details

Research Summary

Governance and Accountability in Social Sector Organizations

This research examines governance in two types of organizations: international NGOs and socioeconomic hybrids.

First, over the past decade, many of the world's most prominent international nongovernmental organizations and networks (INGOs) ... View Details

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