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December 2007 (Revised June 2009)
Case

KPMG (A): A Near-Death Experience

By: Robert G. Eccles and Eliot Sherman

Describes the way in which "Big Four" auditor KPMG dealt with an indictment stemming from the firm's sale of tax shelters. In 2005 Tim Flynn has been KPMG Chairman for a matter of days when he learns that the government is preparing to indict the firm on charges of... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Crime and Corruption; Taxation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Crisis Management; Partners and Partnerships; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry

January 2009
Supplement

KPMG (B): Risk and Reform

By: Robert G. Eccles and Eliot Sherman

Under the leadership of Tim Flynn, Chairman and CEO of KPMG, the firm made a number of changes in compensation, governance, and culture in order to address the underlying reasons for actions that occurred prior to him becoming CEO that led to the accounting giant... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Ethics; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

examining the role of stock options in executive compensation; the incidence of stock option abuses; how stock option compensation is reported to stockholders under generally accepted accounting principles versus how the same compensation... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

Research Summary

Overview

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

My academic research centers on uncovering and closing gaps between the theory and reality of tax policy. My main contribution has been to identify and address a mismatch between the goals for taxation typically assumed in theory and the goals the public and... View Details

June 2025
Article

Social Security and Trends in Wealth Inequality

By: Sylvain Catherine, Max Miller and Natasha Sarin

Recent influential work finds large increases in inequality in the U.S. based on measures of wealth concentration that notably exclude the value of social insurance programs. This paper shows that top wealth shares have not changed much over the last three decades when... View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Taxation; Insurance; Welfare

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November 2006
Background Note

U.S. Taxation of Foreign-Source Corporate Income

By: Henry B. Reiling

Identifies several of the problems and policy choices associated with taxing foreign-source income. Examples are given of the practical after-tax effects of the major alternatives. Foreign tax credit and "tax haven" based business activities receive special attention.... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Credit; Policy; Taxation; Problems and Challenges; United States

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12 Jan 2016
First Look

January 12, 2016

business units—professional tax software, sold to accountants, and the consumer focused TurboTax product. The new product—TurboTax Personal Pro—connects consumers with professional accountants online,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Australian Vintage Ltd.

By: David F. Hawkins

Following International Financial Reporting Standards guidance company records a number of significant losses and a related deferred tax asset. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; International Accounting; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Taxation; Business or Company Management; Asset Management; Assets; Financial Management; Standards; Australia

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Tough Choices for the Illinois Pension System

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brij S. Khurana

This case describes the precarious fiscal situation of the Illinois public pension system in the spring of 2009 and the accounting of pension plans by non-federal municipalities more generally. In February 2009, in the midst of a recession, recently-appointed Governor... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Annuities; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Illinois

October 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Mike Mayo Takes on Citigroup (B)

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser

Mike Mayo takes on Citigroup (B) is a supplementary exercise to go along with Mike Mayo takes on Citigroup (A) case and is designed to give students an opportunity to understand the creation of deferred tax liabilities (DTLs) and the life cycle of a DTL using an... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Accounting; Banking Industry

November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

China's Rural Leap Forward

By: Bruce R. Scott and Jamie Matthews

Collectively owned township and village enterprises (TVEs) played a pivotal role in China's rapid growth during the 1980s and 1990s. Although they originated in the policies and institutions of the Maoist era, TVEs thrived only after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Public Sector; Public Ownership; Development Economics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Macroeconomics; Emerging Markets; China

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

multinational firms hold cash in their foreign subsidiaries because of the tax costs associated with repatriating foreign income. Consistent with this hypothesis, firms that face higher repatriation tax... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2019 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Electric Car Wars, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

Electric cars had long been championed by environmentalists as a superior solution to the internal combustion engine (ICE), but, despite large government incentives and strong pioneering efforts by a few automakers over the years, electric and hybrid cars and light... View Details