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Financial accounting is the measurement of economic activity for decision-making. Financial statements are a key product of this measurement process and an important component of firms' financial reporting activities. The objective of this course is not to train you to become an accountant but rather to help you develop into an informed user of financial statement information. While financial statement users face a wide variety of decisions, they are often interested in understanding the implications of financial statement information for the future cash flows and earnings potential of a firm. We will focus on understanding the mapping between underlying economic events and financial statements, and on understanding how this mapping affects inferences about future profitability and liquidity. The following learning objectives will be emphasized: (1) familiarity with the transactions businesses engage in, (2) fluency in accounting terminology, (3) understanding the structure that maps transactions into accounting numbers, (4) understanding the rationale for various accounting methods, and (5) awareness of the judgment involved and the discretion allowed in choosing accounting methods, making estimates, and disclosing information in financial statements.

This course provides an introduction to the concepts and tools of managerial accounting. The first part of the course covers alternative costing methods and illustrates how the resulting cost information can be used to analyze the profitability of individual products and customers. The second part of the course will examine the role of internal accounting systems in evaluating the performance of individual business segments and divisions of the firm. Included in this part are topics related to the choice of internal pricing methods for transferring goods and services across divisions of the firm and the use of financial metrics for assessing the profitability of these divisions.

This course develops students' ability to read, understand, and use corporate financial statements. The course is oriented toward the user of financial accounting data (rather than the preparer) and emphasizes the reconstruction and interpretation of economic events from published accounting reports. The course is geared toward students with some familiarity in dealing with financial statement information and allows for deeper coverage and discussion in class.

A characteristic of business is the extensive use of accounting data. The financial accounting course has the general objective of developing students' understanding of the nature, scope, and limitations of accounting information. To achieve this objective the course attempts to: (1) develop students' understanding of the conceptual accounting framework, including the objectives of financial reporting, and (2) develop students' ability to understand and critically evaluate the financial disclosures made by corporations. An issue of particular interest will be the managerial incentive aspects of accounting information and disclosures.

This course is designed to enhance students' understanding of current financial reporting issues through a detailed analysis and comparison of U.S. and International Financial Reporting Standards. The course will cover the development of accounting standards, implementation of these standards, and how to interpret output from these standards. The course highlights intermediate and advanced financial reporting topics including fair value accounting, asset securitization, consolidation including special purpose entities, foreign currency translation, derivatives and hedging, leases, revenue recognition, pensions, and equity compensation. The course also focuses on evaluating emerging financial reporting issues such as proposed financial reporting standards put forth by U.S. or international standard setting bodies. This course should help students better understand the environment governing global financial reporting and how firms develop financial statement information within this environment.

This course aims to develop students' understanding of the relation between accounting numbers and underlying economic activity, and to develop students' ability to evaluate the quality of reported accounting numbers. The course will then focus on how to use them in decision contexts including evaluating profitability, forecasting future earnings and cash flows, selecting an appropriate financial reporting strategy, and assessing risk. Accordingly, the course will focus on several factors essential to this goal. These include understanding (1) the business environment a firm operates in, its contracting practices and their implications for what accounting principles are applied and what judgments are required; (2) the process that generates accounting numbers and its implications for the quality of those numbers for decision purposes; (3) approaches for assessing the sustainability and growth of a firm's revenues and earnings using financial statement information; and (4) approaches to evaluate earnings quality, the risk of earnings restatements, liquidity and solvency. This course should be of value to students who will be in senior positions within corporations and will determine financial reporting policies, as well as those outside corporations who will make investment or other decisions at least partially based on financial statement information.

This course is designed to develop students' ability to interpret and use financial accounting information in an equity valuation context. The perspective taken is that of an outsider relying on publicly available financial information for investment purposes. The course relies heavily upon financial statement analysis tools and the residual income framework for equity valuation. Through lectures, in-depth case studies, and real-time exercises, the first half of the course covers traditional financial statement analysis-based tools for critically analyzing and assessing a firm's current financial performance and economic condition, including ratio analysis, accounting quality analysis and financial distress / bankruptcy prediction models. The second half of the course introduces the accounting-based valuation framework and develops the link between financial statement analysis, forecasting and equity valuation. The capstone to the course is the completion of a comprehensive, real-time valuation of a publicly traded firm (or registered IPO candidate). The course is structured for students to gain a deeper understanding of the economic pressures behind the valuation creation and valuation process, and will be useful to those students who anticipate making investment or credit decisions at least partially based on historical and prospective financial statement information.

The course will examine the academic and professional controversies surrounding corporate governance and executive compensation. A basic framework will be developed to integrate the many important dimensions of corporate governance in the U.S. and international settings. The institutional features of corporate governance and executive compensation will be documented using the professional business and legal literatures. In addition, the scientific research in accounting, economics, finance, and organizational behavior will be used to provide insights into the measurement and consequences of observed corporate governance and executive compensation choices. After successfully finishing the course, a student should be able to (i) understand the debates about appropriate choices for corporate governance and executive compensation and (ii) critically evaluate the implications of academic and professional research studies on these controversial issues.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of accounting, economic, and financial issues related to mergers and acquisitions. Specifically, we review the market for corporate control, discuss strategic and corporate governance issues related to firms' decision to acquire or be acquired, and examine the M&A regulatory environment (e.g., anti-trust). We also review various pricing and deal structure considerations, and identify some of the strategies that underlay a successful negotiation. We also review the financial reporting effects of business acquisitions and the various income tax implications of such deals.nnIn covering these and other related issues, we will discuss both the theory and practice of mergers and acquisitions. To provide some specific context we will analyze several M&A deals (e.g., Google/Motorola, HP/Compaq, UpJohn/Pharmacia, AOL/Time Warner, Oracle/PeopleSoft, and many more). In discussing these cases, we will examine the situation faced by the company, the issues surrounding the transaction, including the financial reporting implications, and focus on the managerial incentives and the judgment applied. We will also review some of the related literature in accounting, economic, and finance, to gain broader perspectives and insights into the financial issues associated with M&A transactions. Class time comprises mini lectures that introduce some of the more technical concepts, case discussions, and guest speakers who will offer additional perspectives on the subject matters.nnThe course is co-taught by Ron Kasznik (GSB) and Safra Catz (Oracle Corporation). Ms. Catz is President of Oracle and a member of its Board of Directors. She has led Oracle through nearly 100 acquisitions in recent years (including PeopleSoft, Siebel, BEA, Sun Microsystems, and many more). Prior to joining Oracle in 1999, Ms. Catz was Managing Director at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a global investment bank (now part of CSFB). Ms. Catz also serves on the board of directors for HSBC Holdings plc since 2008.