The NovaStar case describes the challenges faced by short seller Marc Cohodes of hedge fund Rocker Partners as he tried to expose what he thought was widespread fraud in mortgage lender NovaStar Financial. The case is set in the time period from 2001 to 2007 and tracks the growth of the subprime industry and its collapse leading to the financial crisis. The case describes the business model of NovaStar, a leading subprime mortgage lending company, and its accounting practices with a focus on the key risks and opportunities facing the company. The case requires students to put themselves in the shoes of Marc Cohodes in order to understand the business model and accounting numbers and to identify if the financial performance is a good representation of the true economic performance. In particular, students learn accounting concepts related to securitization, gain on sale accounting, valuation of available for sale securities, and analyzing the statement of cash flows. The case also allows students to understand the roles and incentives of various capital market participants such as sell-side analysts, the media, auditors, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Coach Bob Hurley of St. Anthony High School is one of the winningest coaches in the history of high school basketball. At age 65, he has won more than 1,000 games and 25 New Jersey State Championships. His players come from the toughtest streets in the country and yet all but 3 have gone on to college. As head coach, he earns less than $10,000 a year; his circa 1917 school building doesn't even have a gym. And yet, for almost 40 years he has turned down all offers to leave a small, aging, catholic school in Jersey City, NJ. This is biographical case about a tough-love leader who epitomizes what it means to be authentic. It was written for a course on authentic leadership development to highlight the origins and potential of deep self-knowledge and passion. Class discussion focuses on the tensions between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations and the role that this plays in our lives.
Discusses accrual accounting in nonprofit organizations. Focuses on the three basic financial statements, and includes three practice case studies of increasing complexity.
Looks at the operating budget through several lenses. (1) the managerial context in which budget formulation takes place, distinguishing between the mechanical and behavioral aspects of preparing the budget. (2) the components of the operating budget and the steps involved in building a budget. (3) budgeting misfits-areas where the budget formulation phase does not work as well as it might because it does not fit well with other organizational activities.
Ever since there has been budgeting, there have been budgetees who engage in various activities to help improve their chances of obtaining the resources they desire, and supervisors who engage in their own ploys to try to prevent an inappropriate or wasteful use of resources. These ploys fall into four categories: (1) ploys for new programs, (2) ploys for maintaining or expanding ongoing programs, (3) ploys to resist cuts, and (4) ploys used primarily by supervisors.
Discusses the relationship between cost accounting and responsibility accounting, distinguishing between measurement and control. Then looks at several factors that must be considered in designing a responsibility accounting system. Discusses the different types of responsibility centers, and assesses the rationale for choosing one type over another. Discusses the management control process, dividing it into four phases: programming, budgeting, measuring, and reporting. Concludes with a discussion of some of the issues that must be considered in linking a motivation system to the responsibility accounting system.
Discusses the nature of responsibility accounting systems in health care, placing most of its emphasis on the management control system, and describing it in terms of its structure and process. Also discusses the six drivers of costs in healthcare organizations, and how they can be used for budgeting and reporting on financial results
Discusses the methodology for computing the full cost of a hospital's various products (goods and services). Includes a discussion of how activity-based costing can be used in health care.
Discusses the technique of ratio analysis, breaking ratios into four separate areas: profitability, liquidity, asset management, and long-term solvency.
Discusses techniques for analyzing a set of financial statements, distinguishing between accounting issues and financial management issues. Also discusses the use of ratios.
Discusses the elements of the statement of cash flows, illustrating the difference between the direct and indirect methods. Gives students practice in preparing a SCF
Discusses the tricky issues in measuring performance when financial results are secondary. Focuses on societal indicators, results measures, and process measures.
Explains the nine Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and discusses why depreciation if an important accounting concept that allows organizations to abide by GAAP.
Discusses the relationship between accounting and strategy and explains why intangible assets are important to understanding an organization's strategy.