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Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA)
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Logitech (A) Passing the Baton to an External CEO
Davila A; Oyon DCase SGSB-A175A-EAccounting and ControlLogitech International was a leading maker of mice and other devices for controlling computers, including PC cameras. In 1998, the new CEO learned that the Quickcam business unit of Connectix was for sale, an offer the founders had rejected because the technology was not as good as Logitech’s internally developed Web camera, and purchasing an inferior product was not seen as an advantage. The CEO thought that reassessing this acquisition was a ...Starting at €8.20
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FedEx and Pension Accounting
Blankespoor, E; ForoughiJCase SGSB-A222-EAccounting and ControlSusan Barney, chief financial officer of Parcel Expeditors (Parcel), a thriving same-day package delivery company headquartered in the United States, had to make some decisions. The management of Parcel was planning to take the company public in the coming year but they had yet to determine the accounting for certain pension plan costs. The most important goal for management was to provide investors with useful information for their decision ma...Starting at €8.20
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Sunbeam Corporation: Board Member Assessing Earnings Quality (A)
McNichols, M; Callan, CCase SGSB-A189A-EAccounting and ControlIt was June 9It was June 9, 1998, and Charles Elson, a law professor and Director on Sunbeam?s Board, had just left a distressing board meeting. The board had met suddenly because, the previous day, Barron?s had published an article suggesting that Al Dunlap, CEO of Sunbeam, had been manufacturing earnings since he joined the company in July 1996. This disturbing article came shortly after other bad news. Two months earlier, on April 3, Sunbeam h...Starting at €8.20
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Exercise 4: Earnings Management and the Financial Statement (Dell)
Maureen McNichols, Jaclyn ForoughiCase SGSB-A214-EAccounting and ControlEffective financial statement analysis allows for the identification of lower quality earnings and potential earnings management. This case presents a series of clues along with originally reported common-size financial statements and selected notes compiled from the financial statements for Dell Inc. and Lenovo Group Limited, two competing firms in the Computer Hardware industry. All amounts in the common-size statements of income and statemen...Starting at €8.20
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Exercise 4: Earnings Management and the Financial Statement (Dell) - Teaching Note
Maureen McNichols, Jaclyn ForoughiTeaching Note SGSB-A214TN-EAccounting and ControlEffective financial statement analysis allows for the identification of lower quality earnings and potential earnings management. This case presents a series of clues along with originally reported common-size financial statements and selected notes compiled from the financial statements for Dell Inc. and Lenovo Group Limited, two competing firms in the Computer Hardware industry. All amounts in the common-size statements of income and statemen...Starting at €0.00
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Gemstar-TV Guide International
McNichols, M; Blair, NCase SGSB-A208-EAccounting and ControlNormally, serving on a company's board of directors is not a full-time job, but in the summer of 2002, Nick Donatiello (GSB 1986) found himself in exactly that position. As a member of Gemstar-TV Guide International's (Gemstar's or the Company's) board of directors and its Audit Committee, Donatiello was caught up in a storm of accounting issues, shareholder lawsuits and a power struggle between the Company's largest shareholders. Donatiello, one...Starting at €8.20
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Logitech (B) Passing the Baton to an External CEO
Davila A; Oyon DCase SGSB-A175B-EAccounting and ControlLogitech International was a leading maker of mice and other devices for controlling computers, including PC cameras. In 1998, the new CEO learned that the Quickcam business unit of Connectix was for sale, an offer the founders had rejected because the technology was not as good as Logitech’s internally developed Web camera, and purchasing an inferior product was not seen as an advantage. The CEO thought that reassessing this acquisition was a ...Starting at €5.74
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Revenue Recognition at Groupon and Uber Technologies
Gipper, Brandon; Foroughi, JaclynCase SGSB-A236-EAccounting and ControlGroupon, a daily deals platform and Uber Technologies, a ride-hailing and delivery platform, faced a common issue related to a new revenue recognition standard (and later amendments) adopted by most public companies in 2018. The amendments were designed to help companies determine whether the nature of their obligation to customers was to provide the specified goods or services to the customer directly (acting as “principal” and reporting revenue...Starting at €8.20
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Valeant Pharmaceuticals: Aggressive Accounting Games
McNichols, Maureen; Foroughi, JaclynCase SGSB-A229-EAccounting and ControlIn February 2008, as world markets slid deeper into economic decline, J. Michael Pearson joined Valeant Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceuticals company, then based in a quiet suburb of southern California. By August 2015, the stock price peaked, valuing the company at nearly $90 billion, up from $2 billion in 2008. In that time, Valeant had made over 100 acquisitions with total revenues growing from roughly $750 million in 2008 to over $10...Starting at €8.20
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Havilah Merchants Nigeria Ltd: Generating Cash from a Company's Value Chain
Kasznik, Ron; Piotroski, Joseph; Fleming, Kweku; Augustine, CorinneCase SGSB-A235-EAccounting and ControlHavilah Merchants Nigeria Ltd. is Nigeria’s leading one-stop shop for outfitting libraries and archives. It serves three primary market segments: (i) public university libraries, (ii) multi-national companies in the oil and gas industry and (iii) banking industry. Over the years since its incorporation in 1995 , Havilah has successfully executed many library and archive projects, and its products and services have become the benchmark in the ...Starting at €8.20