Accounting - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

10 May 2023

Highlights Video: Accountability is Key to Climate Performance

January 1990 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Accountants and Business Advisors, Inc.: City Office

Over the past several years both the share of women receiving accounting degrees and the share of women entering public accounting have risen substantially. However, the number of women holding senior positions, such as partner, remains low. This case provides data on... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Retention; Gender; Accounting Industry

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March 1982
Background Note

Note on Productivity Accounting

By: Robert H. Hayes

Keywords: Accounting

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September 1979 (Revised July 1993)
Background Note

Liberal Art of Accounting

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

Keywords: Accounting

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03 Mar 2003
What Do You Think?

Are Conditions Right for the Next Accounting Scandal?

Summing Up Responses to this month's column lead one to conclude that we can expect that more major accounting scandals are in our future. Causes, according to these thoughtful comments, range from the consolidation of the major global... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Accounting; Accounting

January 15, 2002
Article

Analyzing Goodwill Transition Accounting

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting

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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

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November 1999 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

Accounting for Foreign Operations

By: David F. Hawkins

Students are required to compute and explain the quality annual earnings per share figures and major differences between managing domestic and global operations. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Financial Statements; International Accounting; Globalized Firms and Management

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Article

Tread Lightly Through These Accounting Minefields

By: H. David Sherman and S. David Young

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure—and personal incentive for managers—to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue expectations. As a result, more companies have been issuing misleading financial reports, according to the SEC,... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Benchmarking Performance; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Assets

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September 1992
Background Note

Accounting for Post-retirement Benefits

By: William J. Bruns Jr., David F. Hawkins and Marc H. Zablatsky

Keywords: Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Retirement

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Article

Yesterday's Accounting Undermines Production

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Accounting; Production

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26 Apr 2016
News

The Quiet War on Corporate Accountability

September 1999 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Boeing Company's Accounting for Executive Stock Compensation, The

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Executive stock options are experiencing increased use and the Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing changes in accounting in the United States. View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Stock Options; Financial Reporting; United States

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16 Feb 2022
News

Holding Business to Account

many others. “These kinds of changes are positive for the company's fundamentals—for its profitability, its long-term success, its consumer and employee loyalty, the brand equity it has built. And if you take a slightly longer-term view, you see that,” she observes.... View Details

29 Jan 2021
News

Holding Business to Account

consumer and employee loyalty, the brand equity it has built. And if you take a slightly longer-term view, you see that,” she observes. “We’re in the business of asking our companies for more accountability and transparency, and really... View Details