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- July 2023 (Revised August 2023)
- Case
Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup
By: Paul M. Healy and Jung Koo Kang
The case explores the challenges of revenue recognition and financial reporting for Stride Funding (Stride), a fintech startup that has disrupted the student loan market. Stride leveraged proprietary machine learning and financial models to underwrite alternative...
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- April 2023 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
Fermenting Accounting Problems at Vermont Kombucha Corp.
By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann
Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams,...
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- June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Muddy Waters vs. eHealth: The Debate of a 'Lifetime'
By: Jonas Heese and Cristo Liautaud
In May 2020, an analyst was assessing eHealth’s performance. eHealth was an online / tele-sales broker of health insurance products. The stock had recently hit all-time highs, closing at a peak of $146 on March 4, 2020. But now, May 4, 2020, eHealth traded at $103. The...
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- December 2018 (Revised August 2022)
- Teaching Note
Revenue Recognition at HBP
By: Siko Sikochi and Paul Healy
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...
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- August 2018 (Revised July 2020)
- Case
Revenue Recognition at HBP
By: 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...
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- 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....
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- February 2013
- Case
Diamond Foods, Inc.
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray
The Diamonds Foods, Inc. case describes the major accounting blow up at the company in late 2011 that was triggered by a report by Off Wall Street, a prominent short selling research firm. Diamond Foods, a high flying growth company in 2011, grew from a walnut farmers'...
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Keywords:
Accounting Restatements;
Accounting Scandal;
Accounting;
Financial Analysis;
Financial Statement Analysis;
Short Selling;
Revenue Recognition;
Board Of Directors;
Audit Committees;
Auditing;
Financial Reporting;
Financial Statements;
Agribusiness;
Accrual Accounting;
Earnings Management;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Valuation;
Revenue;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
California;
Cambridge
- October 2012 (Revised September 2013)
- Case
Creating the First Public Law Firm: The IPO of Slater & Gordon Limited
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
Slater & Gordon (S&G), a midsized Australian law firm with a high-growth consolidation strategy, had an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for May 2007. Due to a series of regulatory changes in Australia in recent years, the IPO provided an opportunity for S&G to...
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Keywords:
IPO;
Mergers ＆ Acquisitions;
Law Firm;
Value Drivers;
Growth Strategy;
Revenue Recognition;
Roll-up;
Consolidator;
Initial Public Offering;
Valuation;
Consolidation;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Financial Strategy;
Growth Management;
Corporate Governance;
Business Strategy;
Legal Services Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Australia
- 2011
- Article
'Deprival Value' vs. 'Fair Value' Measurement for Contract Liabilities: How to Resolve the 'Revenue Recognition' Conundrum
By: Joanne Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim
Revenue recognition and measurement principles can conflict with liability recognition and measurement principles. We explore here under different market conditions when the two measurement approaches coincide and when they conflict. We show that where entities expect...
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- September 2011
- Article
What Drives Sell-Side Analyst Compensation at High-Status Investment Banks?
By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and David A. Maber
We use proprietary data from a major investment bank to investigate factors associated with analysts' annual compensation. We find compensation to be positively related to "All-Star" recognition, investment-banking contributions, the size of analysts' portfolios, and...
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- 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'...
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- March 2009
- Case
Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform (A)
By: Robert L. Simons
This case breaks the existing (and still available) Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform case into an (A) and a (B) case. The (A) case describes the revenue recognition concerns as of early-1994 and the organizational context within which the decisions were made.
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- March 2009
- Supplement
Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform (B)
By: Robert L. Simons
This case breaks the existing (and still available) Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform case into an (A) and a (B) case. The (B) case can be used in class to demonstrate the serious consequences of overly aggressive accounting. The (B) case should be used after...
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- 2007
- Book
An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting? The State of the Art in Research and Thought Leadership on Accounting for Life Assurance in the UK and Continental Europe
By: Joanne G Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim
"Fair value" is currently the central topic of debate in the development of accounting standards. While it has now been defined to mean an exit price in US GAAP, the IASB is still considering its own definition, and some commentators are arguing for versions of entry...
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- September 2007 (Revised June 2008)
- Teaching Note
Revenue Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry (TN)
By: Paul M. Healy
- November 2006 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Kendall Square Research Corporation
Kendall Square Research was a small competitor in the supercomputer industry. Sales grew rapidly in 1992 and early 1993 and the company sold stock to the public for the first time. Analysts forecast higher earnings for 1993, then the company's revenue recognition...
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- August 2006 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Revenue Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry
By: Paul M. Healy and Arjuna J Costa
Designed to explore recognition issues in the context of a potential market downturn. In late 2000, Lucent Technologies reports multiple revisions to its recent financial results due to revenue recognition problems, leading to a dramatic decline in its stock price....
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- July 2002 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Kendall Square Research Corporation (A) (Abridged)
By: William J. Bruns Jr. and F. Warren McFarlan
Kendall Square Research was a small competitor in the supercomputer industry. Sales grew rapidly in 1992 and early 1993, and the company sold stock to the public for the first time. Analysts forecasted higher earnings for 1993, then the company's revenue recognition...
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- August 2000 (Revised February 2001)
- Background Note
Revenue Recognition
By: Paul M. Healy
This case discusses revenue recognition in straightforward situations and then considers revenue transactions that may be more complex to record. Revenue recognition criteria can be implemented for the following situations: 1) Customers pay prior to delivery; 2)...
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- November 1999
- Background Note
Recognizing Revenues and Expenses: Realized and Earned
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Describes a key concept in financial accounting: choosing an appropriate revenue recognition point. The accrual process requires revenue recognition and expense matching for reporting on the value creation process of companies. Describes the two key criteria for...
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