Jonas Heese

Jonas Heese is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Accounting & Management Unit. He teaches the Business Analysis and Valuation course in the MBA elective curriculum. He has also taught first-year MBAs in Financial Reporting and Control.

In his research, Professor Heese focuses on corporate misconduct, with a special focus on the role of regulators, whistleblowers, the media, and organizations’ compliance systems to prevent such misconduct. In particular, he has studied the political economy of regulatory enforcement of accounting standards in the United States, the effect of public disclosure of regulatory oversight activities to strengthen compliance with regulations, and the effect of media on firm behavior. His current work explores the role of monitoring by senior management to curtail misconduct as well as the importance of whistleblowers in detecting fraud. His research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, the Journal of Accounting Research, and the Journal of Financial Economics. He is regularly invited to present his research to academics and regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority. Professor Heese’s research has been quoted by the media, including in the Boston Globe, Financial Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Prior to joining the faculty of the Harvard Business School, Professor Heese (a German citizen) obtained a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in accounting from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Academic Articles

• Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, and Caspar David Peter. "When the Local Newspaper Leaves Town: The Effects of Local Newspaper Closures on Corporate Misconduct." Journal of Financial Economics (forthcoming). View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Cash-for-Information Whistleblowing Programs: Effects on Whistleblowing and Consequences for Whistleblowers." Journal of Accounting Research (forthcoming). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "The Effect of Retaliation Costs on Employee Whistleblowing." Art. 101385. Journal of Accounting & Economics 71, nos. 2-3 (April–May 2021). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Hari Ramasubramanian. "The Department of Justice as a Gatekeeper in Whistleblower-Initiated Corporate Fraud Enforcement: Drivers and Consequences." Journal of Accounting & Economics 71, no. 1 (February 2021). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "When the Boss Comes to Town: The Effects of Headquarters' Visits on Facility-Level Misconduct." Accounting Review 95, no. 6 (November 2020): 235–261. View Details
• Duro, Miguel, Jonas Heese, and Gaizka Ormazabal. "The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews." Review of Accounting Studies 24, no. 3 (September 2019): 780–823. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting." Journal of Accounting Research 57, no. 3 (June 2019): 675–719. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "The Political Influence of Voters' Interests on SEC Enforcement." Contemporary Accounting Research 36, no. 2 (Summer 2019): 869–903. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "The Role of Overbilling in Hospitals' Earnings Management Decisions." European Accounting Review 27, no. 5 (2018). View Details
• Baloria, Vishal P., and Jonas Heese. "The Effects of Media Slant on Firm Behavior." Journal of Financial Economics 129, no. 1 (July 2018): 184–202. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Mozaffar Khan, and Karthik Ramanna. "Is the SEC Captured? Evidence from Comment-Letter Reviews." Journal of Accounting & Economics 64, no. 1 (August 2017). (Revised June 2017.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Frank Moers. "Selective Regulator Decoupling and Organizations' Strategic Responses." Academy of Management Journal 59, no. 6 (December 2016). (Selected for Best Paper Proceedings of the 2015 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Winner of the Healthcare Management Division of the Academy of Management 2015 Best Paper Award.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Frank Moers. "Regulator Leniency and Mispricing in Beneficent Nonprofits." Art. 11998. Academy of Management Proceedings (2015). View Details

Practitioner Articles

• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "How Costly Is Whistleblowing?" Compliance & Enforcement (blog) (June 24, 2021). View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Cash-for-Information Whistleblower Programs: Effects on Whistleblowing and Consequences for Whistleblowers." Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (June 10, 2021). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Corporate Misconduct and Manager Visits." Strategic Finance 102, no. 12 (June 2021): 19–20. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Aiyesha Dey, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Should Whistleblowers Be Paid a Bounty?" IdeaWatch. Harvard Business Review 99, no. 3 (May–June 2021). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Ranjani Krishnan, and Hari Ramasubramanian. "The Department of Justice as a Gatekeeper in Whistleblower-Initiated Corporate Fraud Enforcement: Drivers and Consequences." Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (October 7, 2020). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Karthik Ramanna. "Was sich nach dem Wirecard-Skandal ändern muss." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (July 3, 2020). View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Mutige Mitarbeiter oder Querulanten?" Special Issue on Courage. Harvard Business Manager (January 2020), 60–63. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Miguel Duro, and Gaizka Ormazabal. "The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews." Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (June 18, 2018). View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Vishal P. Baloria. "Research: The Rise of Partisan Media Changed How Companies Make Decisions." Harvard Business Review (website) (October 31, 2017). View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Government Preferences and SEC Enforcement." Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (June 29, 2015). View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Employment Conditions and SEC Enforcement." Review of Financial Regulation Studies, no. 15 (Summer 2015): 7–8. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Sarah Mehta. "'Why I Blew the Whistle': Mauro Botta v. PwC." Harvard Business School Case 122-005, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star Instructor Spreadsheet Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 122-701, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star Student Spreadsheet Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 122-702, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Charles C.Y. Wang. "Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 122-002, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Annelena Lobb. "MicroStrategy: Accounting for Cryptocurrency." Harvard Business School Case 121-066, June 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A) & (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 121-097, June 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and David Lane. "'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 121-033, May 2021. (Revised June 2021.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 120-715, August 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime'." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 121-079, April 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime'." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 121-711, August 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Regtech at HSBC (with Mark Cooke)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 121-710, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. Video Supplement for "Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations". Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 121-709, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. Video Supplement for "Regtech at HSBC". Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 121-708, July 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime' Spreadsheet Supplement for Instructors." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 121-706, April 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime' Spreadsheet Supplement for Students." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 121-707, April 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Charles C.Y. Wang, and Tonia Labruyere. "Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star." Harvard Business School Case 121-058, March 2021. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos. "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 121-057, February 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 121-704, February 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A)." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 121-705, February 2021. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and David Lane. "'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A)." Harvard Business School Case 121-005, January 2021. (Revised May 2021.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Cristo Liautaud. "Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime'." Harvard Business School Case 120-114, June 2020. (Revised October 2020.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, and Julia Kelley. "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-113, June 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, and Julia Kelley. "Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A)." Harvard Business School Case 120-069, June 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 120-712, May 2020. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Botir Kobilov. "Building Uzbekistan's Capital Market." Harvard Business School Case 120-094, February 2020. (Revised April 2020.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 120-086, March 2020. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, and Jonas Heese. "Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A), (B) and (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-064, February 2020. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Tonia Labruyere. "Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (C): Organizational Changes." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-005, February 2020. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Tonia Labruyere. "Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (B): The Commission’s Recommendations." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-002, December 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Tonia Labruyere. "Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A)." Harvard Business School Case 120-001, February 2020. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Regtech at HSBC." Harvard Business School Case 120-046, October 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations." Harvard Business School Case 120-006, September 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, and Jonas Heese. "Regtech at HSBC." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-047, October 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, and Jonas Heese. "Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-048, October 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-030, August 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Case 120-024, August 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (A), (B), & (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-035, September 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, and Julia Kelley. "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-034, September 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, and Julia Kelley. "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-033, September 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, and Julia Kelley. "Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (A)." Harvard Business School Case 120-032, September 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 119-717, May 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Accounting Turbulence at Boeing." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 119-706, April 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, and Jonas Heese. "Coup or Crime? The Case of Carlos Ghosn." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-097, April 2019. View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Puneet Brar. "Coup or Crime? The Case of Carlos Ghosn." Harvard Business School Case 119-096, April 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, and Francois Brochet. "Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 119-090, March 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Accounting for Nuclear Power Provisions at RWE, Student Spreadsheet." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 119-704, March 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Accounting for Nuclear Power Provisions at RWE, Instructor Spreadsheet." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 119-703, March 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Paula A. Price, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar Spreadsheet Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 119-702, January 2019. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet, and Christine Johnson. "Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-063, January 2019. (Revised March 2019.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet, and Christine Johnson. "Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 119-030, August 2018. (Revised April 2019.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Zeya Yang, and Mike Young. "Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-059, November 2018. (Revised February 2020.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Zeya Yang, and Mike Young. "Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter." Harvard Business School Case 119-032, October 2018. (Revised April 2019.) View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "The Whistleblower at International Game Technology." Harvard Business School Case 118-061, April 2018. (Revised December 2018.) View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, and Jonas Heese. "The Whistleblower at International Game Technology." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 118-110, April 2018. (Revised December 2019.) View Details
• Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and James Weber. "Whistleblower Legislation in the Context of Financial Reporting." Harvard Business School Technical Note 118-090, April 2018. View Details
• Heese, Jonas. "Accounting for Nuclear Power Provisions at RWE." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 118-043, December 2017. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Accounting Turbulence at Boeing." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 118-027, October 2017. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane, and James Barnett. "Accounting Turbulence at Boeing." Harvard Business School Case 118-020, August 2017. (Revised September 2018.) View Details
• Healy, Paul, and Jonas Heese. "Accounting for Nuclear Power Provisions at RWE." Harvard Business School Case 118-013, August 2017. (Revised December 2017.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Krishna G. Palepu, and H. David Sherman. "Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 117-041, December 2016. View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Krishna G. Palepu, H. David Sherman, and Monica Baraldi. "Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 117-039, December 2016. (Revised January 2017.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Krishna G. Palepu, H. David Sherman, and Monica Baraldi. "Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (A)." Harvard Business School Case 117-020, August 2016. (Revised January 2017.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Paula A. Price, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 116-052, April 2016. (Revised June 2017.) View Details
• Heese, Jonas, Paula A. Price, Suraj Srinivasan, and David Lane. "Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar." Harvard Business School Case 116-007, November 2015. (Revised October 2017.) View Details

Awards & Honors

Winner of the 2021 FESE De La Vega Best Paper Award for “Does Industry Employment of Active Regulators Weaken Oversight?”

Received the 2020 European Accounting Review Best Reviewer Award.

Winner of the 2019 Best Management Accounting Paper Award at the Annual Meeting of the American Accounting Association for “When the Boss Comes to Town: The Effects of Headquarters’ Visits on Facility-Level Misconduct” with Gerardo Perez Cavazos.

Winner of the ACA 2018 Best Paper Award from the University of St. Gallen’s Institute of Accounting, Control and Auditing for “The Effect of Monitoring by Management on Corporate Misconduct” with Gerardo Pérez Cavazos.

Winner of the 2015 Healthcare Management Division Award for Best Paper Submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management for "Regulator Leniency and Mispricing in Beneficent Nonprofits" with Ranjani Krishnan and Frank Moers.

"Regulator Leniency and Mispricing in Beneficent Nonprofits” (with Ranjani Krishnan and Frank Moers) was selected for publication in the 2015 Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.

Additional Information

External Links

• CV
• Harvard Business Publishing
• Social Science Research Network

• Working Knowledge
• Google Scholar

Areas of Interest

• accounting
• financial reporting

In The News

In The News

• • 22 Oct 2021
  • San Diego Union-Tribune

  Corporate Misconduct Increases after Local Newspapers Shut Down, Study Says
• • 21 Oct 2021
  • Suddeutsche Zeitung

  Warum Lokalzeitungen für gutes Klima sorgen
• • 19 Oct 2021
  • Financial Times

  Rise of Silicon Valley Whistleblowers Spawns New Industry
• • 08 Oct 2021
  • HBS Working Knowledge

  How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime
• • 15 Mar 2021
  • Corporate Social Responsibility Blog

  Whistleblowing, Reporting, and Auditing in the Area of Taxation – VIRTEU Roundtable Session

→More News for Jonas Heese

Jonas Heese In the News

22 Oct 2021
San Diego Union-Tribune
Corporate Misconduct Increases after Local Newspapers Shut Down, Study Says

21 Oct 2021
Suddeutsche Zeitung
Warum Lokalzeitungen für gutes Klima sorgen

19 Oct 2021
Financial Times
Rise of Silicon Valley Whistleblowers Spawns New Industry

08 Oct 2021
HBS Working Knowledge
How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime

15 Mar 2021
Corporate Social Responsibility Blog
Whistleblowing, Reporting, and Auditing in the Area of Taxation – VIRTEU Roundtable Session

04 Mar 2021
Suddeutsche Zeitung
Ungereimtheiten bei der "Bilanzpolizei" DPR

09 Jul 2020
ESMT Berlin
When the Boss Comes to Town: The Effects of Headquarters’ Visits on Facility-Level Misconduct

07 Jul 2020
Taz
"Whistleblower belohnen“

03 Jul 2020
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Was sich nach dem Wirecard-Skandal ändern muss

10 Dec 2019
Harvard Business Manager
Mutige Mitarbeiter oder Querulanten?

13 May 2019
HBS Working Knowledge
The Unexpected Way Whistleblowers Reduce Government Fraud

13 Mar 2019
IESE Insight
The supervision of listed companies: better out in the open?

21 Dec 2018
IESE Insight
The Supervision of Listed Companies: Better Out in the Open?

30 Oct 2017
Harvard Business Review
Research: The Rise of Partisan Media Changed How Companies Make Decisions

09 Oct 2017
HBS Working Knowledge
Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements

18 Sep 2017
Wall Street Journal
Rethinking Regulatory Capture at the SEC

08 Aug 2017
CFO
SEC Probes Deeper If Cos. Have Political Ties: Study

26 Apr 2016
Harvard Business School
Professor Jonas Heese on Fraudulent Billing and Safety Net Hospitals

29 Mar 2016
Suddeutsche Zeitung
In der Zwickmühle

08 Feb 2015
Boston Globe
SEC won’t bust job providers

22 Dec 2014
Forbes
Good Deeds Help Companies Evade Regulatory Scrutiny

In the News