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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(234)
- News (28)
- Research (196)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (118)
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- April 2013 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
AIG and the American Taxpayers (A)
By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer
Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California Gay Marriage fame), claims that in September 2008... View Details
Keywords: Property Rights; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Financial Crisis; Property; Insurance Industry; United States
Ramanna, Karthik, and Matthew Shaffer. "AIG and the American Taxpayers (A)." Harvard Business School Case 113-124, April 2013. (Revised June 2016.)
- July–August 2024
- Article
Disclosing Downstream Emissions
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna
An increasing number of companies are using the E-liability carbon-accounting method as an important tool for tracking progress toward reducing global emissions in their supply chains. The system does not require formal accounting for downstream emissions—those... View Details
Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Environmental Accounting; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Disclosure; Environmental Sustainability
Kaplan, Robert S., and Karthik Ramanna. "Disclosing Downstream Emissions." Harvard Business Review 102, no. 4 (July–August 2024): 124–133.
- 2015
- Book
Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy
By: Karthik Ramanna
There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details
Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India
Ramanna, Karthik. Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. (Reviews by Anat Admati, S.P. Kothari, Lynn Stout, Lawrence Summers, and Luigi Zingales, among others.)
- March 2013
- Article
Why 'Fair Value' Is the Rule: How a Controversial Accounting Approach Gained Support
By: Karthik Ramanna
For the past two decades, fair-value accounting—the practice of measuring assets and liabilities at estimates of their current values—has been on the ascent. This marks a major departure from the centuries-old tradition of keeping books at historical cost. It also has... View Details
Keywords: Fair Value; FASB; Finance; Politics; Financial History; Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States
Ramanna, Karthik. "Why 'Fair Value' Is the Rule: How a Controversial Accounting Approach Gained Support." Harvard Business Review 91, no. 3 (March 2013).
- November 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
Lobbying at eCab
By: Karthik Ramanna
Erin Jones' ridesharing startup in her mid-sized hometown is finally picking up. She's hoping to reach a sustainable scale so that she can sell to a large player such as Uber in a year. But suddenly, she hits political roadblocks—the local Democratic mayor, facing a... View Details
Ramanna, Karthik. "Lobbying at eCab." Harvard Business School Case 115-025, November 2014. (Revised June 2016.)
- April 2013
- Supplement
AIG and the American Taxpayers (B)
By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer
Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California Gay Marriage fame), claims that in September 2008... View Details
Keywords: Financial Markets; Financial Policy; Property Rights; Financial Institutions; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Insurance Industry; United States
Ramanna, Karthik, and Matthew Shaffer. "AIG and the American Taxpayers (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 113-125, April 2013.
- February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
The Maggi Noodle Safety Crisis in India (A)
By: Karthik Ramanna and Radhika Kak
The local government in Delhi has ordered a ban on Nestlé's flagship product in India—Maggi Noodles—citing excessive lead content per government lab tests. Nestlé disputes the government tests, noting that internal and third-party tests show the product to be safe.... View Details
Keywords: Multinationals; Regulation; Customer Relations; Business And Government; Crisis Management; Leadership; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalization; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Safety; Customer Relationship Management; Business and Government Relations; India; Europe; Switzerland
Ramanna, Karthik, and Radhika Kak. "The Maggi Noodle Safety Crisis in India (A)." Harvard Business School Case 116-013, February 2016. (Revised June 2016.)
- September 2010 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
Leadership in Corporate Reporting Policy at Tata Steel
By: Karthik Ramanna and Rachna Tahilyani
The case describes the challenges faced by Tata Steel, India's largest private sector steel company, as it transitions from Indian GAAP to IFRS. It first describes those challenges in the context of the institutional voids that make IFRS adoption difficult in India.... View Details
Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Standards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Steel Industry; India
Ramanna, Karthik, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Leadership in Corporate Reporting Policy at Tata Steel." Harvard Business School Case 111-028, September 2010. (Revised May 2011.)
- 2015
- Working Paper
Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards
By: Abigail Allen, Karthik Ramanna and Sugata Roychowdhury
We examine how Big N auditors' changing incentives impact their comment-letter lobbying on U.S. GAAP over the first thirty-four years of the FASB (1973–2006). We examine the influence of auditors' lobbying incentives arising from three basic factors: managing expected... View Details
Allen, Abigail, Karthik Ramanna, and Sugata Roychowdhury. "Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 15-055, December 2014. (Winner of the American Accounting Association Western Conference Best Paper Award.)
- 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
Kaplan, Robert, Karthik Ramanna, and Piyush Jha. "Update on E-liability Accounting." Accountability in a Sustainable World Quarterly, no. 4 (September 2023): 96–117.
- 05 Oct 2010
- First Look
First Look: October 5, 2010
Working PapersTowards an Understanding of the Role of Standard Setters in Standard Setting Authors:Abigail Allen and Karthik Ramanna Abstract We investigate the idiosyncratic influence of standard setters... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- December 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
Cameron Trebbi at Taylor Lowell, LLP
By: Karthik Ramanna
Cameron Trebbi is a senior executive overseeing accounting policy at a large global auditing firm. His role is to lobby the firm's position with various accounting rule-making bodies worldwide. The firm is close to acquiring as new audit clients a consortium of Chinese... View Details
Keywords: Lobbying; Thin Political Markets; Accounting; Business and Government Relations; Accounting Industry; China; United States
Ramanna, Karthik. "Cameron Trebbi at Taylor Lowell, LLP." Harvard Business School Case 115-026, December 2014. (Revised June 2016.)
- December 2014 (Revised November 2016)
- Case
Dylan Pierce at Peninsula Industries
By: Karthik Ramanna
Peninsula Industries' U.S. country manager, Peter Lee, has a problem—his star hire, Dylan Pierce, is threatening to quit. Peninsula is a large Korean conglomerate multinational that has been keen to attract foreigners. Dylan was hired by Peter to work in Peninsula's... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Multicultural Teams; Leadership; Diversity; Electronics Industry; Korean Peninsula; United States
Ramanna, Karthik. "Dylan Pierce at Peninsula Industries." Harvard Business School Case 115-024, December 2014. (Revised November 2016.)
- January–February 2013
- Article
When the Crowd Fights Corruption
By: Paul M. Healy and Karthik Ramanna
Corruption is the greatest impediment to conducting business in Russia, according to leaders recently surveyed by the World Economic Forum. Indeed, it's a problem in many emerging markets, and businesses have a role to play in combating it, according to Healy and... View Details
Keywords: Corruption; Emerging Economies; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Globalization; Russia; Georgia (nation, Asia); India
Healy, Paul M., and Karthik Ramanna. "When the Crowd Fights Corruption." Harvard Business Review 91, nos. 1/2 (January–February 2013).
- 19 Jun 2012
- First Look
First Look: June 19
making complex decisions. Under some circumstances, unconscious thought improves decisions even more than conscious thought. Executive functioning depends on energy provided by glucose, and we know from previous research that the... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 2023
- Working Paper
Accounting for Carbon Offsets – Establishing the Foundation for Carbon-Trading Markets
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Marc Roston
Tackling climate change requires reductions in current and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as the removal of existing GHG from the atmosphere. Carbon-offset producers purport to provide such removals. But poor measurement practices and inadequate controls... View Details
Kaplan, Robert S., Karthik Ramanna, and Marc Roston. "Accounting for Carbon Offsets – Establishing the Foundation for Carbon-Trading Markets." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-050, February 2023.
- 14 Aug 2012
- First Look
First Look: August 14
(Dot) Com Karthik Ramanna and Rachna TahilyaniHarvard Business School Case 112-078 Anti-corruption web platform "ipaidabribe.com" leverages the transparency and anonymity of the Internet to... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 2007
- Working Paper
Evidence from Goodwill Non-impairments on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting
By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts
SFAS 142 requires firms to use unverifiable fair-value estimates to determine goodwill impairments. Standard setters suggest managers will use the discretion given by such estimates to convey private information on future cash flows, while agency theory predicts... View Details
Ramanna, Karthik, and Ross L. Watts. "Evidence from Goodwill Non-impairments on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-014, August 2007.
- December 2010
- Article
Implications for GAAP from an Analysis of Positive Research in Accounting
By: S.P. Kothari, Karthik Ramanna and Douglas J. Skinner
Based on extant literature, we review the positive theory of GAAP. The theory predicts that GAAP's principal focus is on control (performance measurement and stewardship) and that verifiability and conservatism are critical features of a GAAP shaped by market forces.... View Details
Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Standards; International Accounting; Financial Markets; Financial Reporting
Kothari, S.P., Karthik Ramanna, and Douglas J. Skinner. "Implications for GAAP from an Analysis of Positive Research in Accounting." Journal of Accounting & Economics 50, nos. 2-3 (December 2010): 246–286. (Presented at the 2009 Journal of Accounting & Economics Conference.)
- Article
Accounting for Climate Change
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna
Corporations are facing growing pressure—from investors, advocacy groups, politicians, and even business leaders themselves—to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations and their supply and distribution chains. About 90% of the companies in the S&P... View Details
Keywords: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation; Social Accounting; E-liabilities; Business And The Environment; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability
Kaplan, Robert S., and Karthik Ramanna. "Accounting for Climate Change." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 6 (November–December 2021): 120–131.