Publications

08 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 8

positively related to attitudes of openness to others. In a third study, I conducted an interpersonal dyadic negotiation experiment with business school students and found that, as predicted, these effects replicated and extended to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

irregularities. This suggests that for U.S. listed foreign firms, less frequent restatements can be a signal of opportunistic reporting rather than high quality earnings Download the paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=43286... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 18

interest from providing non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients by using rarely explored NAS fee data from 1978 to 1980. Using this earlier setting, we find cross-sectional evidence of improved earnings quality when auditors provide... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2000
Supplement

Basic Statistics from the World Bank's World Development Report 1998/1999

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Supplements National Income Accounting and The Origins of National Income Accounting. View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; History; Earnings Management; Financial Institutions; International Finance; International Accounting; Business Earnings; Mathematical Methods; Reports; Economic Growth; Commercial Banking; Financial Services Industry

29 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 29

CEO at J.C. Penney. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/ron-johnson-retail-at-target-apple-and-j-c-penney/an/513103-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 514-085 J.C. Penney's 'Fair and Square' Strategy (B): Out with the New, In... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2009
Case

Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform (A)

By: Robert L. Simons

This case breaks the existing (and still available) Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform case into an (A) and a (B) case. The (A) case describes the revenue recognition concerns as of early-1994 and the organizational context within which the decisions were made. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Revenue; Accounting; Management Practices and Processes; Situation or Environment; Earnings Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

01 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: Nov. 1

Authors:David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman Publication:Harvard Business Review 89, no. 11 (November 2011) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2011/11/kfcs-radical-approach-to-china/ar/1 Tax Policy and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2015
Article

Admitting Mistakes: Home Country Effect on the Reliability of Restatement Reporting

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Aida Sijamic Wahid and Gwen Yu

We study the frequency of restatements by foreign firms listed on U.S. exchanges. We find that the restatement rate of U.S. listed foreign firms is significantly lower than that of comparable U.S. firms and that the difference depends on the firm's home country... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Restatements; Home Country Enforcement; Earnings Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Law; Financial Reporting; Financial Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

SSRN

Find at Harvard

August 2012 (Revised September 2012)
Case

JP Morgan Chase & the CIO Losses

By: Clayton Rose

On July 13, 2012, JP Morgan Chase & Co. announced a larger than expected loss for the quarter, $4.4 billion, from positions held in the Chief Investment Office (CIO), raising the total losses to $5.9 billion. Since the substantial risks in the CIO had first been... View Details

Keywords: Banking; Governance; Finance; Risk Management; Corporate Governance; Business Earnings; Accounting; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

businesses outperform both single-unit firms and multi-unit firms composed of unrelated businesses. Explanations for this relationship between focus and firm performance have largely centered on economies of scope achieved by sharing... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2013
Case

Ken Traub at American Bank Note Holographics

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Michael Norris

Ken Traub is hired as CFO for American Bank Note Holographics, the market-leading security holograph company in January 1999, but discovers on his first day that the company has misstated its financials and resigns. After consulting with the company for the next... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Moral Sensibility; Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Personal Development and Career; Management Teams; Technology Industry; Service Industry; United States

September 1986 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (C): Consumer Hardware Division

Describes events occurring over a three-year period in a division of Graves Industries. The division is being squeezed for profit, and managers in the division get involved in some fraudulent financial reporting schemes involving revenues and capitalization of... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting

February 2012 (Revised December 2012)
Supplement

Sino-Forest (B)

By: David F. Hawkins

Excerpts from a hedge fund's report accusing a Chinese bond company of using fraudulent financial statements. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Crime and Corruption; Accounting Audits; Business Earnings; Financial Services Industry; China

March 2020
Case

Minneapolis Star Tribune

By: Joseph L. Bower, Elizabeth Hansen and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2019, Mike Klingensmith, CEO of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twin Cities metro region’s largest newspaper, reviewed subscription trends and plans for future experimentation. The newspaper industry across the U.S. had suffered a steep decline for... View Details

Keywords: Financial Performance; Industry Evolution; Business Earnings; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Journalism and News Industry; Minnesota

January 1984 (Revised August 1988)
Background Note

Valuation Techniques

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Describes several approaches to valuation of a going concern: assets, earnings, and cash flow. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Business Earnings; Assets; Cash Flow

27 Aug 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Guts, Gall, and Good Luck: What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur

iStock What do these people have in common? The daughter of former slaves, pioneers in the private space race, and oddball inventors who created the green business industry. They all overcame long odds to become great American... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Stamford International Inc.

By: David F. Hawkins

Management is struggling to meet consensus quarterly earnings-per-share numbers. Discusses a number of accounting decisions. A report indicating internal control problems in one of the company's divisions raises a Sarbanes-Oxley certification issue. A rewritten version... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Financial Reporting

20 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: December 20

The Wall Street Journal. We find no evidence that compensation is related to earnings forecast accuracy. But consistent with prior studies, we find analyst turnover to be related to forecast accuracy, suggesting that analyst forecasting... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Revenue Recognition

By: Paul M. Healy

This case discusses revenue recognition in straightforward situations and then considers revenue transactions that may be more complex to record. Revenue recognition criteria can be implemented for the following situations: 1) Customers pay prior to delivery; 2)... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Revenue Recognition; Decision Making; Financial Statements