This discussion-based course explores the use of accounting information for internal planning, decision-making, and performance evaluation. The course's main objective is to equip you with the knowledge to understand, evaluate, and act upon the many financial and non-financial reports used in managing modern firms.
The focus of this course is on two central objectives of internal accounting systems. Along the way, we will discover that many companies have not provided their managers with useful information. These managers have to rely on information systems designed years ago for very different business processes and with very different technologies. We will take a look at a number of pitfalls that these systems can induce and the dangers of using them to make business decisions. We will also investigate some modern ideas on how an organization’s information system should be designed.
To attain the right level of understanding, you will need to be familiar with the mechanics of the many techniques used to prepare management reports. But the emphasis in this course is very much on interpretation, evaluation, and decision-making.
Jake Cohen is the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Master’s Programs and a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Law at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
He oversees MIT Sloan’s portfolio of degree programs, as well as the Offices of Admissions, Student Life, and Career Development. Jake is responsible for setting strategy for the undergraduate and all Master’s programs, including the new Master of Business Analytics program. He teaches Financial Accounting to Master of Finance and Executive Education students.
From 2008 to 2011, Jake was the Dean of the MBA Program at INSEAD, directing strategy and operations for campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Under his leadership, INSEAD expanded its degree programs and received its highest rankings ever among business school MBA programs. Jake also served as a member of the Deans’ Leadership Team, overseeing every aspect of the academic experience in all programs. In 2012, he spent his post-deanship sabbatical teaching financial management as a Judge Fellow at Cambridge University and as a Research Fellow studying corporate social responsibility reporting at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
Before becoming dean, Jake was director of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers Research Initiative on High Performance Organizations. He was founder, director, and professor of INSEAD’s Business Foundations Program, as well as Affiliate Professor of Accounting and Control and Business Law. Before joining INSEAD in 2003, he was a Senior Teaching Fellow at Harvard Business School in the Accounting & Management Group.
Prior to his academic career, Jake worked as an accountant at KPMG LLP in Philadelphia, and as a mergers & acquisition consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York City. As an academic, he has consulted for a number of organizations including: BCG; Bain; Blackstone; ArcelorMittal; Schlumberger; Bel; Accenture, and BMO Capital.
Jake holds a JD in corporate law from Syracuse University, an MS in accounting from Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, and a BS in accounting from Lehigh University. He has completed six executive certificates at Harvard Business School; the AVIRA certificate for senior executives at INSEAD; and is currently participating in Leader to Leader (L2L), MIT’s nationally recognized best-practice leadership development program.
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