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Accounting

Customer Data Can Reveal Revenue Fraud at Supplier Firms

Yale SOM’s Frank Zhang and his co-authors used publicly available information from suppliers and customers to zero in on the firms that were more likely to be cooking the books.

An illustration of an accountant looking at financial printouts with a magnifying glass
  • Did Crypto Cause the FTX Collapse?

    Yale SOM’s Rick Antle, an accounting scholar who worked on the Bernie Madoff restitution, says that FTX was a toxic combination of a new asset and a failure of corporate controls.

    A fading image of an FTX logo on a computer screen
  • Quickly Disclosing Bad News Could Help Companies Benefit from Market Signals

    Consistently releasing negative forecasts promptly could change trader incentives and ultimately help a company gather more strategic information from the market, according to a new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Zeqiong Huang.

    An illustration of a CEO speaking to a crowd
  • What Is Accounting For?

    Prof. Rick Antle explains how accounting serves as the infrastructure for the smooth functioning of society.

    Prof. Rick Antle teaching
  • Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, Margins Don’t Rise as a Company Grows 

    Nearly every business plan contains the assumption that as the company grows, its average costs will fall and profit margins will rise. But that isn’t borne out by the numbers.

    A photo of corporate headquarters campus reflected in water
  • Keeping a Close Eye on Local Governments’ Finances Can Improve How they Govern 

    Yale SOM’s Anya Nakhmurina found that fiscal monitoring policies, which require a state office to review local governments’ finances, boosted municipalities’ financial health and reduced corruption convictions of local officials.

    A city hall building
  • For CEOs, Integrity Is the Best Policy

    A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Thomas Steffen analyzed tens of thousands of shareholder letters to reveal whether executives’ actions typically live up to their promises. It found that firms whose CEOs scored well on this measure of integrity tended to perform better, while facing lower audit fees.

    An illustration of a CEO writing a letter with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the wall
  • Three Questions: Is This the End of Sears? 

    After decades of decline, Sears filed for bankruptcy in October. Yale Insights asked bankruptcy expert Stanley Garstka what would remain of the once-dominant retailer and its heritage at the end of the process.

    A Sears retail store in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1981. Photo: Library of Congress.
  • Three Questions: Professor Shyam Sunder on Why We Pay Taxes

    It’s nearly Tax Day, which means we're scrambling to find receipts and puzzling through tax forms. Is all this misery really the best way to pay for public goods?

    Taxes at work sign
  • Three Questions: Prof. Rick Antle on Lowering Corporate Taxes

    As the Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax package trundles toward a vote in the Senate, we asked Rick Antle, an expert in financial accounting and corporate governance, on how the corporate tax system could be improved.

  • Where Did Madoff's Money Go?

    Yale SOM’s Rick Antle on the complexities of making restitution in the wake of a Ponzi scheme.

    Rick Antle speaking