Publications

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November 1994
Case

Hewlett-Packard: French Manufacturing Operations

By: Robin Cooper, Patricia Bost and Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; France

Find at Harvard

19 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Expensing Options Won’t Hurt High Tech

years, which could be indefinitely—just as companies granting stock options do now. That way, companies could get the supposed accounting benefits from not having to report a portion of their compensation View Details

Keywords: by Zvi Bodie, Robert S. Kaplan & Robert C. Merton

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

behavior. Indeed, a significant cost for corporations—the cost associated with compensating key employees with stock options—was until recently treated as an expense for tax purposes but not for financial... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

September 1992 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Summit Distributors (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Amy P. Hutton

Summit Distributors was in danger of violating loan covenants because of slow economic activity and forecasted losses and was faced with a choice. Changing the inventory valuation method from LIFO to FIFO would avoid default but would require higher future income... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Cost Accounting; Cash Flow; Interest Rates; Economic Systems; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Statements; Valuation; Accounting Audits; Financing and Loans; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry

August 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Expense Recognition

By: Paul M. Healy and Preeti Choudhary

Recording expenses is not often clear-cut and can require considerable management judgment. This case discusses expense recognition in straightforward situations and then considers expense transactions that may be more complex to record. It uses examples that include... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Cost; Financial Statements

1987
Chapter

Research Cultures in Management Accounting: Empirical Research

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Research

April 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

General Mills, Inc.: Analyzing an Annual Report

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Marc H. Zablatsky

A directed analysis of the General Mills 1992 Annual Report. Focuses on the basics of reading an annual report including analysis of financial statements, calculations of financial ratios, and study of the layout and message of an annual report. View Details

Keywords: History; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Financial Statements; Financial Strategy

29 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Research Symposium 2014

to favor this experienced view." He cited the example of several meetings in the year 2000, during which the Financial Accounting Standards Board was hashing out rules regarding mergers and acquisitions. At issue was the topic of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accounting; Accounting

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

Economic Analysis, agencies continued to bundle their advertising services and collect media commissions for decades. By analyzing US Census Bureau data, the researchers demonstrated that unbundled services accounted for only 13 percent... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

1977 - 1977
Lecture

Applications of Quantitative Models in Managerial Accounting: A State of the Art Survey

By: Robert Kaplan

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Mathematical Methods

September 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Background Note

Using Regression Analysis to Estimate Time Equations

This note presents a simple way to estimate time equations using regression analysis in Excel. The note quickly outlines regression analysis, then presents a real-life case example from the natural gas industry that students can use to gain experience developing and... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Mathematical Methods

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

behavioral issues. Say you work at an insurance agency. Your job is to devise protection, and you've discovered, as many insurers do, that catastrophic reinsurance is expensive. Meanwhile, your boss has been hounding you for months to keep View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

20 Dec 2006
Op-Ed

Investors Hurt by Dual-Track Tax Reporting

attention of the IRS, given the loss of tax revenues, but why is the SEC interested? First, this dual-reporting system creates significant confusion. In effect, one-third of costs (the tax claim on pretax profits) is not reported clearly... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

May 1993
Case

Kaufmann Manufacturing Company (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and William J. Bruns Jr.

A management team at Kaufmann is studying the latest year's operations and sales, which seem to have led to very confusing financial results. Sales exceeded forecast and production for the first six months, however Kaufmann reported a loss. Yet, when sales were below... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Earnings Management; Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Cost vs Benefits; Capital Budgeting; Cost Management; Profit; Outcome or Result