Publications

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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

14 Dec 2015
News

How Accounting Can Help Build a Sustainable Economy

Research Summary

Performance Measurement and Accountability in the Social Sector

Professor Ebrahim's research examines the pressures for accountability facing social sector organizations, and their implications for organizational performance. How can nonprofits and social enterprises measure performance in order to achieve better results? This... View Details

November 2012
Exercise

Coca-Cola: Residual Income Valuation Exercise

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The exercise illustrates the use of the residual income (also known as the abnormal earnings) valuation approach. Students are asked to provide a valuation of Coca-Cola Company using the residual income valuation methodology and understand how it maps into the... View Details

Keywords: Business Analysis; Valuation; Residual Income Valuation; Accounting; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysis; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Statements; Discounted Cash Flows

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... View Details

September 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Accounting for the iPhone at Apple Inc.

By: Francois Brochet, Krishna G. Palepu and Lauren Barley

Apple initially recognized revenue associated with its iPhone product using subscription accounting. However, in 2008, the company started providing non-GAAP supplemental numbers where substantially all of the revenue was recognized upfront. Market participants'... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Standards; Technology Industry; United States

Teaching Interest

Empirical Research in Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance

By: Suraj Srinivasan

This course is a survey of financial accounting research intended for doctoral students. The primary purpose of the course is to introduce fundamental research themes and methodologies used in empirical financial accounting research. Participants will become... View Details

October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Accounting Red Flags or Red Herrings at Catalent? (A)

By: Joseph Pacelli, ZeSean Ali and Tom Quinn

Fund manager Janet Curie asked for a recommendation about the pharmaceutical company Catalent. The company seemed like a solid investment. However, a pair of research reports issued over the previous two months complicated this narrative. GlassHouse Research, a short... View Details

November 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Background Note

Capital Projects as Real Options: An Introduction

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Introduces a framework for evaluating corporate investment projects as call options. Presumes readers are familiar with basic option pricing and basic capital budgeting rules. Explains the motivation for viewing projects as options; presents a mapping between a capital... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance

December 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Supplement

Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (B)

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

In October 2016, Apple Inc. announced the financial results for its fiscal year 2016. CEO Tim Cook commented on a very successful fiscal year 2016 and focused on all the positive financial results. However, Apple’s 2016 annual report was also telling another story.... View Details

Keywords: Apple Inc.; iPhone 6s; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; California; United States

This book provides a framework for business analysis and has been used by business schools throughout the world. It provides a foundation for analysis using four key steps: 1) Strategy analysis: Identifying a firm's strategy and understanding sources of its competitive... View Details

January 2014
Case

Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller and Shikhar Ghosh

Steven Carpenter reflects on the successes and failures of his recent venture, Cake Financial. Carpenter had just sold the four-year-old startup and was at work on a new business plan. But first, he wanted to understand why Cake Financial, a service that allowed users... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Debt, Boom-Bust Cycles, and Financial Crises

By: Victoria Ivashina, Sebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Luc Laeven and Karsten Müller

Using a new dataset on sectoral credit exposures covering financial and non-financial sectors in 115 economies over the period 1940–2014, we document the following evidence that corporate debt plays a key role in explaining boom-bust cycles, financial crises, and slow... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Borrowing and Debt; Credit

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16 Jul 2020
News

Accounting for Real Change

Ronald Cohen (MBA 1969) Ronald Cohen (MBA 1969) In an opinion piece in the Financial Times, “Crisis Offers a Chance to Rewrite Accounting to... View Details

August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet and Christine Johnson

In May 2018, Berkshire Hathaway announced an unprecedented loss of more than $1 billion for the first quarter of 2018. Warren Buffett blamed this loss on the new accounting rules for equity securities which he criticized. In the case ‘Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire... View Details

Keywords: Equity Securities; FASB; Fair Value Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

July 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Société Internationale de Plantations et de Finance (SIPEF)

By: David Hawkins

Management of a company with extensive palm oil tree plantations questions the usefulness to management and investors of IAS41's requirement to value palm oil trees at their fair value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; International Financial Reporting Standards; International Accounting Standards; Biological Asset Accounting; IAS41; Historical Cost; Equity Valuation; Financial Ratios; Plant-Based Agribusiness; International Accounting; Valuation; Financial Reporting; Fair Value Accounting; Equity; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details