Publications

SSRN

November 1987
Background Note

The Magic Matrix: Products and Accounts

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Describes an interfunctional approach to product mix management and account selection. The approach uses a matrix of products and accounts. Also describes the concepts and implementation of the approach. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Customers

2010
Working Paper

The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

What does it mean for a nonprofit organization to be accountable? Nonprofit leaders tend to pay attention to accountability once a problem of trust arises—a scandal in the sector or in their own organization, questions from citizens or donors who want to know if their... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Performance Evaluation; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy

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14 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Agenda for Corporate Accountability Reporting

community activists? When and how does such reporting affect how managers make decisions in ways that increase or decrease shareholder value? What are the main welfare effects of corporate accountability... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting; Accounting; Accounting

24 Jun 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Entrepreneurial Gap: How Managers Adjust Span of Accountability and Span of Control to Implement Business Strategy

Keywords: by Robert L. Simons

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

Teaching Interest

Leadership and Corporate Accountability

By: Christina R. Wing

In this course, students learn about the complex responsibilities facing business leaders today. Through cases about difficult managerial decisions, the course examines the legal, ethical, and economic responsibilities of corporate leaders. It also teaches students... View Details

09 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting Scholarship That Advances Professional Knowledge and Practice

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Education

17 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Evidence on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna & Ross L. Watts

August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Plug Power (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

Set immediately after a December 2019 short-seller attack, the case explores Plug Power’s long challenging history. It then focuses on two key issues raised in the short-seller report related to lease accounting and stock warrants that Plug purportedly used to boost... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Management; Social Enterprise; Investment; Stocks; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Europe

October 2023
Case

Social Finance: Driving Accountability

By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback and Robert Ialenti

Social Finance is a Boston-based nonprofit that works at the intersection of finance and policy. It raises, allocates, and manages capital to fund projects in the areas of education, early childhood development, criminal justice, and health. The case explores how... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Training

2010
Working Paper

Accounting Scholarship that Advances Professional Knowledge and Practice

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Recent accounting scholarship has used statistical analysis on asset prices, financial reports and disclosures, laboratory experiments, and surveys of practice. The research has studied the interface among accounting information, capital markets, standard setters, and... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Education; Information; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; Business Processes; Performance Improvement; Practice

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28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

accountability and effectiveness today? What should it do about them? With a detailed description of the Bank's challenges of democratic accountability, its constraints, and recommendations for the future, HBS professor Alnoor Ebrahim... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

March 2011
Article

Accounting Scholarship That Advances Professional Knowledge and Practice

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Recent accounting scholarship has used statistical analysis on asset prices, financial reports and disclosures, laboratory experiments, and surveys of practice. The research has studied the interface among accounting information, capital markets, standard setters, and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Asset Pricing; Risk Management; Surveys; Capital Markets; Measurement and Metrics; Valuation; Fair Value Accounting; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Financial Reporting

2021
Article

How Top Managers Use the Entrepreneurial Gap to Drive Strategic Change

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Prior research provides strong evidence for the association between business strategy and the design and use of management control systems. We complement this research by examining the role of management control systems in situations of strategic change. We report the... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Accountability; Strategic Change; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Performance; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance

December 2016
Article

Deal Process Design in Management Buyouts

By: Guhan Subramanian

Management buyouts (MBOs) are an economically and legally significant class of transaction: not only do they account for more than $10 billion in deal volume per year, on average, but they also play an important role in defining the relationship between inside and... View Details

Keywords: Management Buyout; Deal Structuring; Acquisition; Design; Fairness

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2007
Book

Management Control Systems

By: Robert N. Anthony and Vijay Govindarajan

Management Control Systems, now in its 13th edition, builds on strengths from prior editions by offering a rich diversity of cases balanced with current material. The primary market for Management Control Systems is an MBA level elective in control systems. The... View Details

January 1993
Article

What Production Mangers Really Want to Know ... Management Accountants are Failing to Tell Them

By: S. M. McKinnon and W. J. Bruns Jr.

Keywords: Accounting; Management

October 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Case

MCI Communications Corporation: National Accounts Program (Condensed)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Concerns the early stages of a major-account program at MCI, a telecommunications firm seeking to penetrate the corporate-account market. Among the issues are: 1) coordination of field sales efforts with national account selling efforts; 2) sales strategy for major... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Training; Compensation and Benefits; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams; Sales

Article

Better Accounting Transforms Health Care Delivery

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mary L. Witkowski

The paper describes the theory and preliminary results for an action research program that explores the implications from better measurements of health care outcomes and costs. After summarizing Porter's outcome taxonomy (Porter 2010), we illustrate how to use process... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Research; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry