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- July 2021
- Case
'Why I Blew the Whistle': Mauro Botta v. PwC
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Sarah Mehta
Set in April 2021, this case tells the story of Mauro Botta, a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In 2016, Botta filed a whistleblower claim with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that PwC had failed to fulfill its obligations to remain...
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- June 2021
- Article
Does the Freedom of Information Act Foil the Securities and Exchange Commission's Intent to Keep Investigations Confidential?
By: Braiden Coleman, Kenneth Merkley, Brian Miller and Joseph Pacelli
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a long-standing policy to keep formal investigations confidential. In this study, we examine the extent to which compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides investors with information about ongoing SEC...
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- Article
Is ‘Not Guilty’ the Same as ‘Innocent’? Evidence from SEC Financial Fraud Investigations
By: Eugene F. Soltes and David H. Solomon
When the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigates firms for financial fraud, investors learn about the investigation only if managers disclose it, or regulators sanction the firm. We investigate the effects of such disclosures using confidential records on...
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- August 20, 2020
- Editorial
The U.S. Needs an SEC for Its Health Care System
- May 2020
- Teaching Note
Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down
By: Jill Avery
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-076. On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had...
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- December 2019
- Case
WeWork Files for an IPO
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
For the board of The We Company—better known as WeWork—August 14, 2019, promised to be a pivotal day. It was then that WeWork’s IPO prospectus, known as an S-1 filing, would be made public, giving potential investors, the media, and the general public a window into the...
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- September 2019
- Article
The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews
By: Miguel Duro, Jonas Heese and Gaizka Ormazabal
This paper studies the effect of the public disclosure of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comment-letter reviews (CLs) on firms’ financial reporting. We exploit a major change in the SEC’s disclosure policy: in 2004, the SEC decided to make its CLs...
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- Summer 2019
- Article
The Political Influence of Voters' Interests on SEC Enforcement
By: Jonas Heese
I examine whether political influence as a response to voters’ interest in employment levels is reflected in the enforcement actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I find that large employers are less likely to experience SEC enforcement actions....
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- May 2019
- Teaching Note
Tesla, Inc. in 2018
By: Siko Sikochi and Suraj Srinivasan
Teaching Note for HBS No. 119-013. The case facilitates a discussion about corporate governance and its role in achieving sustainable profitability and driving long-term shareholder value. The discussion can focus on such questions as what constitutes good governance,...
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- April 2019 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down
By: Jill Avery
On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had taken a $15.4 billion asset write-down,...
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Keywords:
Brand Management;
Brand Value;
Brand Equity;
Marketing ROI;
Brand Storytelling;
Intangible Assets;
Brand Valuation;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Management;
Corporate Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Food;
Marketing Communications;
Advertising;
Private Equity;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States;
North America
- 2018
- Working Paper
It is Easy to be Brave From a Safe Distance: Proximity to the SEC and Insider Trading
By: Trung Nguyen and Quoc H. Nguyen
We use hand-collected data from SEC’s litigation releases for insider trading violations to examine the effect of geographic distance on its enforcement activities and insider trading activities. First, we find that the SEC is more likely to investigate companies that...
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- February 2019 (Revised September 2019)
- Case
Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't
By: Joseph B. Fuller and John Masko
In 2003, 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes founded a startup dedicated to making blood testing easier and more affordable. By 2015, her company, Theranos, was worth $9 billion. It boasted a star-studded board and contracts with national pharmacy and supermarket chains...
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Keywords:
Theranos;
Blood;
Lab Testing;
Fraud;
Holmes;
Balwani;
Shultz;
Carreyrou;
Securities And Exchange Commission;
Food And Drug Administration;
FDA;
SEC;
Health Testing and Trials;
Corporate Accountability;
Organizational Culture;
Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising;
Crime and Corruption;
Entrepreneurship;
Medical Devices and Supplies Industry
- October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Rio Tinto vs. the Securities and Exchange Commission
By: Aiyesha Dey, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah Gulick
Keywords:
Coal Mining;
SEC Enforcement;
FCPA;
Mining;
Fraud;
Acquisition;
Financial Reporting;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Non-Renewable Energy;
Ethics;
Financial Management;
Investment;
Corporate Governance;
Laws and Statutes;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Risk Management;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Energy Industry;
Mining Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Mozambique;
United States;
Australia;
England
- Article
The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews
By: Jonas Heese, Miguel Duro and Gaizka Ormazabal
- August 2017
- Article
Is the SEC Captured? Evidence from Comment-Letter Reviews
By: Jonas Heese, Mozaffar Khan and Karthik Ramanna
SEC oversight of publicly listed firms ranges from comment letter (CL) reviews of firms’ reporting compliance to pursuing enforcement actions against violators. Prior literature finds that firm political connections (PC) negatively predict enforcement actions,...
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- February 2017 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (A)
By: George Serafeim, Shiva Rajgopal and David Freiberg
Climate change was becoming an important societal and business issue as more governments were introducing climate change related regulations and investors became increasibly worried about stranded assets within oil and gas firms. In September 2016, the U.S. Securities...
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- 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...
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Keywords:
Bankruptcy;
Financial Distress;
Accounting Policies;
Business Ethics;
Financial Reporting;
Volatility;
Judgments;
Financial Crisis;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy;
Financial Liquidity;
Investment Banking;
Financial Management;
Financial Strategy;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Crisis Management;
Risk Management;
Failure;
Business and Government Relations;
Ethics;
Banking Industry;
New York (city, NY)
- 2017
- Working Paper
What Else Do Shareholders Want? Shareholder Proposals Contested by Firm Management
By: Eugene F. Soltes, Suraj Srinivasan and Rajesh Vijayaraghavan
Shareholder proposals provide investors an opportunity to exercise their decision rights within firms, but managers can seek permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to dismiss proposals. We find that managers seek to exclude 39% of all proposals...
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- 2015
- Working Paper
Politically Connected Firms and SEC Comment Letters
By: Jonas Heese, Mozaffar Khan and Karthik Ramanna