Accounting & Management
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- November 2023
- Case
Tata Group in 2021: Pursuing Profits through Purpose
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Vidhya MuthuramOctober 8, 2021: Tata Sons won a bid to acquire India’s national carrier Air India, marking the airline's return to its original owners after 68 long years. The winning bid of $2.4 billion gave Tata Sons full ownership of the airline and its coveted network of 6,200 landing and parking slots in Indian airports and 900 slots in overseas hubs. This bid marked the end of a two-decade-long journey for the Indian government that had been trying to sell the troubled airline which, according to recent estimates, was losing nearly $3 million per day. The chairman of Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra), described the occasion as a “historic moment.” “It will be a rare privilege for our group to own and operate the country’s flag bearer airline. It will be our endeavor to build a world-class airline that makes every Indian proud.” The acquisition of a heavily indebted and loss-making public sector asset raised several questions: Why did Tata Sons acquire Air India? Was it an emotional decision to regain control of an airline they had started? Was this an example of Tata Sons helping India overcome another persistent challenge, a trait well documented throughout its corporate history? Was it a commercially sound decision?
- November 2023
- Case
Tata Group in 2021: Pursuing Profits through Purpose
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Vidhya MuthuramOctober 8, 2021: Tata Sons won a bid to acquire India’s national carrier Air India, marking the airline's return to its original owners after 68 long years. The winning bid of $2.4 billion gave Tata Sons full ownership of the airline and its coveted network of 6,200 landing and parking slots in Indian airports and 900 slots in overseas hubs. This...
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- November 2023
- Article
When Executives Pledge Integrity: The Effect of the Accountant's Oath on Firms' Financial Reporting
By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Caspar David PeterWe study the effect of executives’ pledges of integrity on firms’ financial reporting outcomes by exploiting a 2016 regulation that requires holders of Dutch professional accounting degrees to pledge an integrity oath. We identify chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) required to take the integrity oath, and find that firms reduce income-increasing discretionary accruals after executives took the oath. These firms also reduce discretionary expenditures, indicating that oath-taking executives reduce overall earnings management and not merely substitute accruals-based with real-activities earnings management. These effects are concentrated in firms where the CFO took the oath. Overall, our results indicate that integrity oaths for executives improve firms’ financial reporting quality.
- November 2023
- Article
When Executives Pledge Integrity: The Effect of the Accountant's Oath on Firms' Financial Reporting
By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Caspar David PeterWe study the effect of executives’ pledges of integrity on firms’ financial reporting outcomes by exploiting a 2016 regulation that requires holders of Dutch professional accounting degrees to pledge an integrity oath. We identify chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) required to take the integrity oath, and find that...
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- October 2023
- Case
KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing
By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata AroraThe problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000 yearly deaths, primarily children under the age of five, were the result of poor indoor air quality from unclean cooking fuel. Forecasts suggested exponential demand growth for charcoal driven by rising population and increased urbanization in Africa. Eighty-three percent of sub-Saharan African households relied on charcoal or wood for cooking. Greg Murray (chief executive officer), Sagun Saxena (chief innovation officer), Nicholas Stokes (chief financial officer) and Micael da Costa (chief systems officer) had decided to do something about it. In 2014, they co-founded KOKO Networks (KOKO), a climate-technology company that built and operated clean fuel utilities enabling nations to transition away from deforestation-charcoal. KOKO partnered with the owners of existing liquids infrastructure, and then used its unique technology and operating platform to deliver low-cost ultra-clean bioethanol cooking to a dense network of high-tech “KOKO Point” Fuel ATMs located in corner stores across low-income neighborhoods, which it used to retail directly to households. The end result was a safe, clean and affordable fuel located within a short walk of home, and which delivered a modern cooking experience at a price point that was materially lower than charcoal. By August 2023, KOKO served over one million households across ten cities in Kenya and planned to expand further in Kenya as well as build greenfield utilities in Rwanda and other African nations. Yet, the co-founders knew that the road ahead was full not only of opportunities, but also of challenges. KOKO’s approach required the development of new customized policy on standards, regulations, and taxation – within consumer fuel, hardware and carbon credits - and the ability to persuade and inspire the development of this policy at the necessary pace.
- October 2023
- Case
KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing
By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata AroraThe problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000 yearly deaths, primarily children under the age of five, were the result of poor...
About the Unit
The Accounting & Management unit at Harvard Business School strives to be the worldwide leader in research, course development, and teaching on top managements' use of performance measurement systems to:
- Communicate with external investors to ensure that their firms' securities are fairly priced and that they are able to access capital,
- Measure and evaluate their firms' economic performance,
- Improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their firms, and
- Build accountability for performance through effective external and internal governance.
Unit research, course development, and teaching fall into two broad areas: Financial Reporting and Analysis and Management Accounting. Our research helps scholars and educators understand current best practices for the design and use of performance measurement systems that help managers to build more effective, value-creating organizations. Our teaching materials enable us to bring the results of this research into the classroom, and to practice.
Recent Publications
Tata Group in 2021: Pursuing Profits through Purpose
- November 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
When Executives Pledge Integrity: The Effect of the Accountant's Oath on Firms' Financial Reporting
- November 2023 |
- Article |
- Accounting Review
KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing
- October 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Leading Transformation at IHCL
- October 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Accounting Red Flags or Red Herrings at Catalent?
- October 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code
- October 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Ball: EVA Driving the World’s Leading Can Manufacturer (C)
- October 2023 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Ball: EVA Driving the World’s Leading Can Manufacturer (B)
- October 2023 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.