A focus of Chris's teaching is the way in which we use accounting data to describe firms in economic terms. Chris has written over 25 case studies and a selection from his current suite of case studies is below.

Amazon
This case looks out Amazon's performance in the years up to 2000, and in the years since. In 2000, Amazon disclosed fantastic sales growth, but was racking up enormous losses in the process. What sort of financial analysis could we do that would permit us to invest in a business like that?

Apple
This case charts the history of Apple Computer from the early 1980s to 2009, through its financial statements. It shows how the changing fortunes of a company in this volatile, innovative and fast changing industry show up in financial terms, and how strategy and business model choice affect the numbers. The case provides an excellent example of how the economics of a business are revealed by a structured financial analysis.

Arsenal
Football clubs are inherently interesting, quite simple, and usually rather unprofitable businesses. This case tracks the financial performance of Arsenal football club in the decade to 2008. In particular, it asks how reliably the balance sheet measures the assets that a football club uses.

Queens Moat House
Queens Moat House hotels group very rapidly by acquisition in the late 1980s, only to collapse a few years later. The new management revealed that there had been large-scale false accounting, and the court agreed that conclusion. The first case charts the history of QMH. The second case (which is available upon request) assembles the materials we might have had at the time to ask whether financial analysis could reasonably predicted that QMH would fail.

Vodafone
Vodafone has grown by acquisition are still a global business. The case describes the Mannesmann acquisition in 2000 and tracks Vodafone's subsequent financial performance to 2009. This performance was blighted almost annually by very large write-offs of acquired goodwill and intangibles. The case raises the question whether achieving global dominance by acquisition is likely to be again worth winning for shareholders. It raises the question whether the accounting impairment rules reliably describe that reality.

Young & Co's Brewery
Youngs is an excellent foundation case in the concept of accounting return on capital. Youngs is the family-controlled brewing company that traces its roots back to the 16th century. It has a very high-quality portfolio of real estate in the form of pubs and, until recently, its brewery site. Again, until recently, it energetically revalued this real estate on its balance sheet. One consequence of this was that Youngs’ long-term reported return on capital has been very low and apparently well below the cost of capital.