Accounting

Description: Preparation and analysis of financial statements. Focuses on why financial statements take the form they do, and how they can be used in evaluating corporate performance and solvency and in valuation of corporate securities. Introduces concepts from finance and economics (e.g., cash flow discounting and valuation) and explains their relation to, and use in, accounting. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Permission of Sloan Educational Services required for all cross-registrants.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Felix Vetter 

Description: Introduces concepts of corporate financial accounting and reporting of information widely used in making investment decisions, corporate and managerial performance assessment, and valuation of firms. Students perform economics-based analysis of accounting information from the viewpoint of the user (especially senior managers) rather than the preparer (the accountant). Restricted to Sloan Fellows in Innovation and Global Leadership.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• S.P. Kothari

Description: An intensive introduction to the preparation and interpretation of financial information. Adopts a decision-maker perspective of accounting by emphasizing the relation between accounting data and the underlying economic events generating them. Class sessions are a mixture of lecture and case discussion. Assignments include textbook problems, analysis of financial statements, and cases. Restricted to first-year Sloan master's students.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Eric So
• Andrew Sutherland
• Joseph Weber

Description: See description under subject 15.501. If subject is oversubscribed, priority is given to Course 15 students.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Jake Cohen
• Nemit Shroff

Description: Provides conceptual framework for thinking about taxation. Topics include taxation of various investments and types of compensation; retirement planning; considerations of choosing an organizational form when starting a business; various methods of mergering, acquiring, and divesting business entities; international tax planning rules and strategies; and high wealth planning and estate tax. Applies current debates on various tax policy options to class discussions. Intended for investment bankers and consultants who need to understand how taxes affect the structure of deals, managers and analysts who need to understand how firms strategically respond to taxes, and entrepreneurs who want to structure their businesses and finances in a tax-advantaged manner. Meets with 15.5181 when offered concurrently. Expectations and evaluation criteria for graduate students will differ from those of undergraduates; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Michelle Hanlon

Description: Provides conceptual framework for thinking about taxation. Topics include taxation of various investments and types of compensation; retirement planning; considerations of choosing an organizational form when starting a business; various methods of mergering, acquiring, and divesting business entities; international tax planning rules and strategies; and high wealth planning and estate tax. Applies current debates on various tax policy options to class discussions. Meets with 15.518 when offered concurrently. Expectations and evaluation criteria for graduate students will differ from those of undergraduates; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Michelle Hanlon

Description:  Introduces participants to the language and methodologies of internal accounting practices. Topics include cost allocations, absorption costing, standard costing, transfer pricing, and performance measurement and evaluation. Major focus is on identifying which information is useful and which is useless and potentially misleading.
Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Scott Keating

Description: Primary learning objective is the strategic, financial, and accounting analysis of a company's profitability and riskiness by means of financial statement data. A second, and related, learning objective is the valuation of a company using financial statement data. Concepts are applied to a number of decision making contexts, including securities analysis, credit analysis, merger analysis, and company performance assessment.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Christopher Noe

Description: Designed primarily for doctoral students in accounting and related fields. The reading list consists of accounting research papers. Objective is to introduce research topics, methodologies, and developments in accounting, and train students to do independent research.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Joseph Weber
• Rodrigo Verdi
• Eric So

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• John Core
• Joseph Weber

Description: Examines the basic concepts of corporate financial accounting and reporting, and the role of accounting information in investment decisions, corporate and managerial performance assessment, and the valuation of firms. Develops skills for performing an economics-based analysis of accounting information from the viewpoint of the users of accounting information (especially senior managers), rather than the preparer (the accountant). Restricted to Executive MBA students.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Rodrigo Verdi

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• John Core
• Christopher Noe