Accounting - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

March 1982
Background Note

Note on Productivity Accounting

By: Robert H. Hayes

Keywords: Accounting

Citation

Find at Harvard

September 1979 (Revised July 1993)
Background Note

Liberal Art of Accounting

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

Keywords: Accounting

Citation

Find at Harvard

January 15, 2002
Article

Analyzing Goodwill Transition Accounting

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting

Citation

Find at Harvard

October 1985
Case

General Motors: Inflation Accounting

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Accounting; Inflation and Deflation; Auto Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

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

Citation

Find at Harvard

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

Citation

Educators

Purchase

13 Dec 2022
News

Balancing Profitability and Social Accountability

Keywords: ESG

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

Citation

Find at Harvard

Purchase

Article

Yesterday's Accounting Undermines Production

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Accounting; Production

Citation

Find at Harvard

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

Citation

Find at Harvard

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

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Oil and Gas Industry

By: Katie Panella, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the oil and gas industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary product impact estimates of... View Details

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

1976
Chapter

Reflections on the State of Accounting Research and the Regulation of Accounting

By: Michael Jensen

Keywords: Accounting; Research; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Accounting Industry

Citation

SSRN

Find at Harvard

29 Mar 2019
Blog Post

My Concerns About Learning Accounting at HBS

Many incoming students express their nervousness to the Admissions team around accounting and finance classes if they do not have experience in those areas. In reality, students at HBS come from all different backgrounds and they do not... View Details

September 1992 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

Accounting for Property, Plant, Equipment and Other Assets

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

An introduction to depreciation accounting and depreciation methods for capital assets. Also covers gains or losses on asset disposal and accounting for other investments and intangibles. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Assets

Citation

Educators

Purchase

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