Publications

16 Oct 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Core Earnings? New Data and Evidence

Keywords: by Ethan Rouen, Eric So, and Charles C.Y. Wang

20 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Sell Side School Ties

Keywords: by Lauren H. Cohen, Andrea Frazzini & Christopher J. Malloy; Financial Services

Forthcoming
Article

Public Disclosure of Private Meetings: Does Observing Peers’ Information Acquisition Affect Analysts’ Attention Allocation?

By: Yi Ru, Ronghuo Zheng and Yuan Zou

We investigate the impact of observing peers’ information acquisition on financial analysts’ allocation of attention. Using the timely disclosure mandate by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as a setting, we find that, shortly after analysts observe that a firm has been... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Information; Financial Institutions; Accounting; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; China

Siyu Zhang is a second-year doctoral student at HBS. Zhang joined Harvard Business School in 2020 as a Research Associate and has been working on macroeconomic forecasting projects. Prior to joining HBS, he was a Data Scientist at John Hancock, where he utilized... View Details

18 Jan 2011
News

Yes, bonuses do work - " but for fruit-pickers, not City bankers

February 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

America Online, Inc.

By: Amy P. Hutton and Krishna G. Palepu

America Online's (AOL) stock price has soared nearly 2,000% since its IPO. However, there is considerable disagreement among analysts regarding the future prospects of AOL. Although many analysts are bullish on the stock, short sellers have sold around 7 million... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Analysis; Stocks; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Statements; Business Strategy; Web Services Industry

August 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Mike Mayo Takes on Citigroup (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser

The case details the conflict between Mike Mayo, an influential banking analyst and Citigroup about what Mayo considers aggressive accounting policies. Mike Mayo questions Citigroup's lack of a valuation allowance against their Deferred Tax Assets despite Citi's recent... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Taxation; Capital; Financial Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Valuation; Banks and Banking; Financial Strategy; Money; Conflict Management; Capital Budgeting; Asset Management; Banking Industry

March 2021 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star

By: Jonas Heese, Charles C.Y. Wang and Tonia Labruyere

Wirecard was a German fintech company, member of the DAX30, that provided payment processing and related services. Wirecard had enjoyed large growth rates over the years and most investors and analysts were enthusiastic about the company's prospects. Wirecard's... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Fraud; Scandal; Accounting Audits; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Financial Services Industry; Germany; Singapore; Dubai

Research Summary

Understanding and Managing Information Intermediaries

Brian Bushee is investigating whether information intermediaries such as institutional investors and financial analysts are sophisticated and efficient users of accounting information and whether these intermediaries' decisions influence the choices made by... View Details

December 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Innovation and Collaboration at Merrill Lynch

By: Boris Groysberg and Ingrid Vargas

In the spring of 2005, Candace Browning, head of Global Securities Research and Economics at Merrill Lynch, led about 500 Merrill Lynch analysts worldwide in a collaborative effort to produce innovative research, most of them accustomed to working independently in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Decision Making; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Negotiation; Mathematical Methods; Strategy; Human Resources; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

Helene Hall is a doctoral student in the Business Economics program at Harvard University. Prior to coming to Harvard, she worked as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and studied economics and mathematics at Williams College. Her main research... View Details

October 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

America Online, Inc.: Disclosure Strategy

By: Amy P. Hutton and David Lane

Since going public, AOL had disclosed on a quarterly basis supplemental metrics meant to give analysts and investors a way of tracking growth in its subscriber base and the value created through its marketing efforts. These metrics gave management's conversations with... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Internet and the Web; Corporate Disclosure; Media; Digital Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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March 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Iridium LLC

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Fuaad Qureshi and William J Olson

This case involves part of a module on financing large projects in the elective curriculum course entitled "Large-Scale Investment." It is set in August 1999, just after Iridium, a global communications firm, declared bankruptcy. Although the case describes Iridium's... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Communications Industry; Technology Industry

Mr. Crane was a member of the Finance Faculty at Harvard Business School for a number of years, working primarily in the field of financial institutions and corporate governance. He taught in the MBA and executive education programs at the School, most recently... View Details

August 2009
Article

Rewriting History

By: Alexander Ljungqvist, Christopher J. Malloy and Felicia Marston

We document widespread ex post changes to the historical contents of the I/B/E/S analyst stock recommendations database. Across a sequence of seven downloads of the entire I/B/E/S recommendations database, obtained between 2000 and 2007, we find that between 6,594... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Stocks; Profit; Market Transactions; Reputation; Financial Services Industry

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2008
Working Paper

Rewriting History

By: Alexander Ljungqvist, Christopher J. Malloy and Felicia Marston

We document widespread ex post changes to the historical contents of the I/B/E/S analyst stock recommendations database. Across a sequence of seven downloads of the entire I/B/E/S recommendations database, obtained between 2000 and 2007, we find that between 6,594... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Stocks; Profit; Market Transactions; Reputation; Financial Services Industry

07 Oct 2012
News

In Search of Funds That Don't Rock the Boat

August 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Krishna G. Palepu, H. David Sherman and Monica Baraldi

On September 9, 2015, Apple Inc. announced the “iPhone Upgrade Program,” a new way to purchase iPhone models 6s and 6s Plus in Apple’s retail stores throughout the U.S. Next to the strategic implications of the Upgrade Program, financial analysts tried to understand... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Apple Inc.; iPhone 6s; International Accounting; Electronics Industry; California; United States