Publications

12 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards

Keywords: by Abigail M. Allen, Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury; Accounting

April 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David Kiron

The principal players in WorldCom's accounting fraud included CFO Scott Sullivan, the General Accounting and Internal Audit departments, external auditor Arthur Andersen, and the board of directors. The case provides sufficient detail to allow for a full discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture; Corporate Governance; Accounting Audits

February 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Accounting for Bitcoin at Block

By: Charles C.Y. Wang, Seil Kim and Sa-Pyung Sean Shin

Abstract: This case explores Block Inc.'s accounting practices for Bitcoin transactions and their impact on financial reporting. Following a 10% stock price drop after missing revenue estimates in Q3 2024, Block faced scrutiny over its Bitcoin-driven revenue model.... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Fair Value Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Business Model; Fluctuation; Volatility; Revenue; Standards; Valuation

July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
Case

The U.S. Current Account Deficit

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer

Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details

Keywords: World Economy; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; United States

Teaching Interest

Overview

Professor Pérez Cavazos teaches the required first-year MBA course Financial Reporting and Control. View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Financial Reporting; Control

March 2013
Case

NovaStar Financial: A Short Seller's Battle

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser

The NovaStar case describes the challenges faced by short seller Marc Cohodes of hedge fund Rocker Partners as he tried to expose what he thought was widespread fraud in mortgage lender NovaStar Financial. The case is set in the time period from 2001 to 2007 and tracks... View Details

March 2019
Case

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (Abridged)

By: Julie Battilana and Michael Norris

In 2014, as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has just brought former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on as chairman of the board, Jean Rogers, founder and CEO, struggles with how best to ensure the nonprofit’s financial sustainability while... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Reporting; Environmental Sustainability; Accounting; Accounting Industry; United States

September 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Microsoft's Financial Reporting Strategy

Explores Microsoft's overall financial reporting strategy by examining the company's treatment of two accounting issues--software capitalization and revenue recognition. For both issues, the company selects accounting methods that are relatively conservative. Also... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Information Technology Industry

Article

Consequences of Financial Reporting Failure for Outside Directors: Evidence from Accounting Restatements and Audit Committee Members

By: Suraj Srinivasan

I use a sample of 409 companies that restated their earnings from 1997 to 2001 to examine penalties for outside directors, particularly audit committee members, when their companies experience accounting restatements. Penalties from lawsuits and Securities and Exchange... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Lawsuits and Litigation; Labor; Markets; Financial Reporting; Accounting Audits; Cost; Reputation

SSRN

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February 2014
Article

Accountability of Independent Directors—Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

By: Francois Brochet and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial- and disclosure-related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their re-election to express displeasure over... View Details

Keywords: Independent Directors; Litigation Risk; Class Action Lawsuits; Director Accountability; Reputation; Boards Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Debt Securities; Corporate Accountability; Lawsuits and Litigation

SSRN

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23 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Financial Reporting Goes Global

to write about globalization, accounting standards and, in particular, Indian accounting standards? Gregory Miller: Globalization is the major issue in determining the future of View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell; Accounting; Accounting

February 2008 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Accounting for Business Combinations: Acquisition Method

By: David F. Hawkins and F. Asis Martinez Jerez

A technical note reviewing business combinations and Goodwill accounting under the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, No. 141R. View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Standards

Teaching

Overview

By: V.G. Narayanan

I teach accounting to MBA students, executives, and Harvard Extension School students. I teach topics from both financial and managerial accounting. I also train professors in teaching by the case method. View Details

Article

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: A Paradigm Shift

By: Ethan Rouen and George Serafeim

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in corporate sustainability activities and efforts by investors to use these activities in their portfolio formation, valuation, and stewardship activities. This paper explains the need for a uniform strategy to measure... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Standards

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October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

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; Accounting Industry; United States; China; India

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June 2005 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Accounting at MacCloud Winery

By: David F. Hawkins, Robert S. Kaplan and Gregory S. Miller

Uses a fictional new winery to introduce accounting concepts and practices such as assets, liabilities, expenses, the matching principle, and contingent activities. Designed to approach the subject at a conceptual level, allowing class discussion to focus on the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Theory; Accounting

June 2001 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

A Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

Discusses the conceptual framework for financial reporting as set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Discusses the objectives of financial statements, assumptions of financial accounting, characteristics of accounting information, accounting principles for... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Accounting Industry