Alan Jagolinzer's Courses

Course Description: 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 consolidation, foreign currency transactions, foreign currency translation, derivatives, hedging, leases, revenue recognition, variable interest entities, 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 agencies. This course should help students better understand the environment governing financial reporting and how firms develop financial statement information within this environment.

Course Description: 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.

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of financial statement information. The course focuses on learning how economic transactions map into financial statements, and also on how to interpret data presented in financial statements.

Teaching Cases

Disclosure Dilemma: Financial Reporting of Contingent and Environmental Liabilities; Stanford Business Case A-200; December 2008; with Nate Blair and C. Gregory Rogers

The case discusses the current US and international accounting guidance regarding the disclosure of contingent and environmental liabilities, including FAS 5 and IAS 37. It then addresses the role of socially responsible investors and other factors that gave rise to the FASB revisiting its guidance. The case details the proposed new guidance and includes perspectives from various constituent groups (financial statement preparers and users) on its pros and cons. The case concludes with an example of existing guidance in practice using Novartis AG. It includes Novartis' financial and other quantitative disclosures regarding environmental liabilities, and its liability from a dumpsite in Bonfol, Switzerland, in particular.

The IAS 39 "Carve-Out": How the European Union Hedged Its Exposure to the International Standard on Derivatives and Hedging

International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, has attracted considerable controversy throughout its development. Major European financial institutions and political agencies lobbied heavily against the development of certain provisions within the standard. Jacques Chirac, the president of France, suggested that the accounting treatment prescribed in IAS 39 threatens the stability of the European economic structure. Despite its efforts to accommodate constituents' concerns, the International Accounting Standards board refused to fully concede to lobby pressure and implemented a compromise standard in March 2004. As a result, the European Union's Accounting Regulatory Committee voted to recommend that the European Commission only partially adopt IAS 39, effectively "carving-out" two provisions that were the focal point of debate. This case explores the history of IAS 39, describes the IAS 39 prescribed accounting treatment for fair value and cash flow hedges, outlines heavily debated issues surrounding macro hedge accounting, and illustrates the impact of politics in the accounting standard setting process. The case also explores the implications of the European Commission's "carve-out" on the viability of the International Accounting Standards board and the board's overriding goal of global harmonization of financial reporting standards.