11 - 20 of 27 results for: ACCT

This Bass seminar is designed to develop students' ability to interpret and use financial accounting information in credit and equity valuation contexts. The course will focus on valuing the securities of companies undergoing significant changes as a result of litigation, restructuring, regulatory changes, mergers, spin-offs or significant industry shifts. Throughout the course, students will (1) enrich their understanding of how alternative economic, legal, political and regulatory outcomes affect the value of various components of a company's capital structure and (2) develop their ability to apply financial statement analysis to assess the likelihood and valuation implications of the events of interest. nnnEvent-driven investing follows the life cycle of companies as they revamp their corporate structures in response to economic and regulatory environments. For example, in rising economic periods companies may undertake acquisitions or spin off divisions to enhance shareholder value. During adverse environments, bankruptcy and reorganizations often reshape the capital structure by offering opportunities to create value through the restructuring process. During economic transitions, debt and equity investors may make significantly different assessments of the quality of a company's earnings, its assets, and its likelihood to meet its debt obligations. To assess the probability of corporate events, investors must make judgments about the quality of a company's earnings and assets and understand how accounting policies may influence management's representations. Investors must also interpret how accounting policies function at various points in a firm's life cycle, influencing the quality of earnings for firms differently in different economic environments. nnnIn the first half of the course, we will develop the course framework, and apply it to illustrative cases. Companies featured in past years include Tyco, AIG, CIT, Fannie Mae, Tesla, Pharmasset and Gilead and Commerzbank. Students will interpret information from companies' public financial disclosures to assess the likelihood of different events or outcomes. The course will also feature readings on current accounting standards, articles from the popular press, publicly available financial statement information, and guest speakers with in-depth knowledge of investing strategies vis a vis the case companies. nnnThe latter part of the course will be devoted to project work, with students working in teams to develop an event-driven investing strategy. The aim is to allow students to conduct independent research on a company, industry, economic context, or financial reporting environment of particular interest. Students will develop their investment idea, articulate their sense of the possible outcomes for the components of the firm's capital structure, and explain how they have assessed the likelihood and valuation consequences of those outcomes. At the conclusion of the course, students will present their strategies to the class and a panel of expert judges.

This course examines the unique institutional, governance and transparency issues affecting corporate valuations in emerging markets. Through lectures, case discussions and the students' real-time analysis of an emerging market firm, this condensed course is structured for students to gain a deeper understanding of the economic pressures behind the value creation, value destruction and valuation process in emerging economies. The course focuses on critically interpreting financial and non-financial information for purposes of assessing firm fundamentals and corporate governance risk in the presence of weak legal systems, strong political forces, limited investor protections, limited market development, strong macro-economic forces, opacity and resultant business arrangements. The course is beneficial for entrepreneurs, consultants, investors and managers operating in or considering expansion to developing markets.

This course is focused on helping students understand the role boards and board members play in corporate governance and the lives of businesses large and small. This case-driven course is designed to help students who plan to serve on boards as private-equity or venture investors, entrepreneurs who will need to assemble and manage boards, and executives who realize they will need to interact with and answer to boards. The course is designed to help students understand the issues boards face - both routine and non-routine - through the eyes of the board member. By understanding the roles and responsibilities of board members and the mechanisms though which they exercise these duties, students will come away with an understanding of how boards function effectively (and in too many cases fail to function effectively). The course will include examining boards in a variety of contexts with a focus on three types of situations: public for-profit companies, early-stage private companies, and non-for-profit companies of different sizes.

The goal of this course is to provide a fundamental understanding of the principles of taxation and tax planning as they relate to personal income taxes and considering an individuals financial position. Traditional business courses analyze an array of factors affecting business decisions but provide little systematic consideration of the role of taxes in individual financial planning decisions. By contrast, tax accounting courses traditionally concentrate on technical legal and administrative issues while ignoring the environment in which taxes enter an individual's decision-making. This case-based course intends to bridge this gap by discussing how taxes affect a variety of personal financial planning decisions.

This course is aimed at doctoral students in accounting and neighboring fields including economics, finance, political economics and operations management. The course seeks to provide an introduction to the role of accounting information in (i) measuring firm performance, (ii) projecting profitability and firm value for external constituents, (iii) and motivating and controlling the firm's management. The main topics covered in this course include: 1. Profitability Measurement and Accrual Accounting. 2. Performance Evaluation and Managerial Incentives. 3. Accounting-based Equity Valuation. 4. The Informational Role of Accounting Numbers 5. Earnings Quality Constructs and Measures. The primary objective of the course is to introduce students to current research paradigms on these topics and to identify promising avenues for future research. The course readings include recent theoretical and empirical papers.

Empirical Research on Financial Reporting: This doctoral-level course covers research on the role of accounting information in capital markets. The focus is on introducing students to key themes in empirical accounting and capital markets research, and to key research designs applied to examine information-related questions. Course topics include market efficiency, the role of accounting in providing information to investors, anomalies, alternative sources of information, accounting measurement attributes, earnings management, earnings quality, and the role of auditors in the provision of information to investors.nnThe course is interdisciplinary in nature. The readings focus on research design, and key theories, themes and approaches from the accounting, finance, economics and psychology literature. Our overall goal is not only to review existing research, but also to identify new research opportunities.

Empirical Research on Financial Reporting: This doctoral-level course covers research on the role of accounting information in capital markets. The focus is on introducing students to key themes in empirical accounting and capital markets research, and to key research designs applied to examine information-related questions. Course topics include the informational role of financial reports, accounting measurement attributes, earnings management, earnings quality, and the role of key actors in the financial reporting environment, including management, investors, auditors, analysts and regulators. n nThe course is interdisciplinary in nature. The readings focus on research design, and key theories, themes and approaches from the accounting, finance, economics and psychology literature. Our overall goal is develop your understanding of existing research and its strengths and limitations, and to identify new research opportunities.

This course develops tools from information economics to study the strategic interactions between agents inside a firm and between firm insiders and market participants. Common to these studies is that agents acquire private information that is valuable to other parties. The range of applications includes: the structure of managerial performance measures, buyer-supplier contracting arrangements, earnings management, voluntary and mandatory disclosure and financial analysts.

The purpose of this PhD seminar is to facilitate your conception and execution of substantive individual research in financial reporting. It provides a vehicle for supplementing and integrating your knowledge of basic research tools and methods, as well as an exposure to the dimensions of contemporary research in the field of financial reporting. The focus of the research we will discuss in this seminar is on global financial reporting. Such research encompasses studies dealing with contemporary financial reporting issues as well as research addressing issues relating to the globalization of financial reporting. Because these issues are also of concern to financial reporting standard setters, we will discuss whether and how the research we study informs standard setting debates. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor.