Prematriculation Financial Accounting Tutorial/Module

David F. Hawkins; Paul M. Healy; Ratna G. Sarkar

Tutorial | June 2005

Prematriculation Financial Accounting Tutorial/Module

by David F. Hawkins, Paul M. Healy and Ratna G. Sarkar

Abstract

The Financial Accounting course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of financial accounting in a management context. The course describes the business activities for Global Grocer, a small retail franchise specializing in gourmet foods and specialty kitchen implements from all over the world. In the course, students follow the story of Global Grocer from its inception through the first year of operation. The course teaches students how accounting systems are used to record the day-to-day economic activities of a business and places special emphasis on understanding accounting terminology. Students learn fundamental accounting concepts and then apply those concepts in a detailed examination of the financial statements used to describe the business. Throughout the course, students are presented with real-world challenges that require them to interpret the financial data to find answers.

Keywords: Accounting; Performance; Financial Statements;

Format: Multimedia

1 pages

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Citation:

"Prematriculation Financial Accounting Tutorial/Module." Harvard Business School Tutorial 105-708, June 2005.

Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018 (Revised February 2019)

Revenue Recognition at HBP

Paul Healy and Siko Sikochi

In early 2014, Paul Bills, CFO of Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), sat down with David Wan, the company’s CEO, to discuss budget preparations for the coming year. Bills noted that the performance of Corporate Learning, one of HBP’s three business units, would be affected by a business model change for its largest product that required a change in the timing of revenue recognition. Corporate Learning was in the process of revamping its flagship product, Harvard Manage-Mentor (HMM) from version 11.0 (HMM11) to version 12.0 (HMM12). The revamped software would be hosted exclusively on HBP’s server rather than on its clients’ servers, allowing updates to take place continuously. Given the change, accounting standards required HBP to change the recognition of revenue from the date of software delivery (for HMM11) to ratable recognition over its contract life (for HMM12). As Bills and Wan discussed the accounting change, they recognized that its impact on Corporate Learning’s and HBP’s performance could be material and would have to be reflected in the budget. In addition, they wondered how the new accounting would affect the company’s policy for awarding sales incentive compensation on HMM, as well as how they communicated with employees and the firm’s sole shareholder, the Harvard Business School.

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States;

Citation:

Healy, Paul, and Siko Sikochi. "Revenue Recognition at HBP." Harvard Business School Case 119-029, August 2018. (Revised February 2019.) View Details

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In early 2014, Corporate Learning, one of three business units at Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), was in the process of revamping its flagship product, Harvard Manage-Mentor (HMM) from version 11.0 (HMM11) to version 12.0 (HMM12). The revamped software would be hosted exclusively on HBP’s server, allowing updates to take place continuously. Given the change, accounting standards required HBP to change the recognition of revenue from the date of software delivery (for HMM11) to ratable recognition over its contract life (for HMM12). As Paul Bills (CFO of HBP) and David Wan (HBP’s CEO) discussed the accounting change, they recognized that its impact on Corporate Learning’s and HBP’s performance could be material and would have to be reflected in the budget. In addition, they wondered how the new accounting would affect the company’s policy for awarding sales incentive compensation on HMM, as well as how they communicated with employees and the firm’s sole shareholder, the Harvard Business School.

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Prematriculation Financial Accounting Tutorial/Module

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