Chris Higson
Associate Professor of Accounting Practice
BA MSc PhD (London)
Dr Chris Higson has worked at London Business School since 1986. He was Chair of the Accounting faculty from 1994 to 2000 and is currently an Associate Professor of Accounting Practice. His areas of expertise are in financial statements, financial performance and valuation, taxation, governance and regulation. He serves as an expert witness in these areas. He comments on financial matters on television, radio and in the international press.
During his career Chris Higson has advised on financial performance in many of the world’s leading industrial and financial companies. He is a member of the oversight board of a UK investment company and has been involved in creating several new businesses, including a consultancy advising governments and financial institutions on the value of their information assets, and a media start-up. He has had several non-executive roles for the UK Government, as a member of the UK’s Industrial Development Advisory Board, the Regional Growth Fund panel, in the UK Green Investment Bank and the British Business Bank. He developed a doctrine for the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that combines best practice in social cost benefit analysis and private sector decision-making.
Chris Higson has written over 100 papers, case studies and books. A number of papers discuss the financial performance of intangible assets, including Accounting for Brands, Valuing Information as an Asset, Accounting for Human Capital. Several articles, published in the Financial Timesand elsewhere, discussed the consequences of the financial crisis. Two influential papers, Valuing Internet Businesses and Did Enron’s Investors Fool Themselves? (2000 and 2001) predicted the end of the dot-com bubble and explained why dot-coms were overvalued at the time. His book, Financial Statements: economic analysis and interpretation (3rd ed,2016, Rivington), aimed at practitioners and business students, and explains the logic of accounting and the relationship between corporate performance measurement and strategy.
- chigson@london.edu
- +44 (0)20 7000 8116
- Financial statement analysis
- Valuation of information and intangible assets
- Financial governance and private equity
- Macroeconomic determinants of company performance models.
What should the UK do about foreign takeovers?
Higson C
London Business School Review 2015 June:15th
2013
Is there financial integration in the equity markets of the European Union?
Higson C; Holly S; Petrella I
Economics and Finance Research 2013 Vol 1:1 p 31-41
2009
Macroeconomic instability and corporate failure: the role of the legal system
Bhattacharjee A; Higson C; Holly S; Kattuman P
Review of Law and Economics 2009 Vol 5:1 p 1-32
2008
Macroeconomic instability and business exit: determinants of failures and acquisitions of UK firms
Bhattacharjee A; Higson C; Holly S; Kattuman P
Economica 2008 Vol 76:301 p 108-131
2004
Business cycle, macroeconomic shocks and the cross section: the growth of UK quoted companies
Higson C J; et al.
Economica 2004 May Vol 71:282 p 299-318
Cross sectional dynamics of the US business cycle: 1950-1999
Higson C J; Holly S; Kattuman P
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 2002 Aug Vol 26:9-10 p 1539-1555
Economic role of asset financing
Higson C J
in Boobyer C ed., Leasing finance. 4th ed., Euromoney Books, 2002
2001
Did Enron's investors fool themselves?
Higson C J
Business Strategy Review 2001 Winter Vol 12:4 p 1-7
Market metrics: what should we tell the shareholders?
Higson C J; Ambler T; Barwise T P
Market Leader 2001 Winter p 10-11
Review of Intangibles: management, measurement and reporting, by Baruch Lev
Higson C J
International Journal of Accounting 2001 Dec Vol 36:4 p 501-503
Valuing internet business
Higson C J; Briginshaw J
Business Strategy Review 2000 Spring Vol 11 p 10-20
1997
Returns to takeovers: the UK evidence
Higson C J; Elliott J
Journal of Empirical Finance 1997 Autumn Vol 5 p 22-46
1996
Accounting for takeovers
Higson C J
in Bickerstaffe G ed., Mastering management, Financial Times/Pitman, 1996
Comments on UK evidence on the market valuation of research and development expenditures
Higson C J
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting 1996 Mar Vol 23:2 p 217-219
Problem with accounting
Higson C J; Zimmermann J
in Bickerstaffe G ed., Mastering management, Financial Times/Pitman, 1996
Return on capital employed (ROCE)
Higson C J
in Bickerstaffe G ed., Mastering management, Financial Times/Pitman, 1996
1994
Incentive to locate a multinational firm: the effect of proposed tax reform in the UK
Higson C J; Elliott J
International Tax and Public Finance 1994 Vol 1:1 p 81-97
1993
Effective tax rates on UK and foreign income: the impact of the UK budget proposals
Higson C J; Elliott J
British Tax Review 1993 Vol 5 p 330-340
Tax reform and the incentive to locate a multinational firm
Higson C J; Elliott J
in Proceedings of the Bradford Tax Workshop, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, 1993
1992
Brands in the balance sheet
Higson C J
in Proceedings of the Intangible Assets Roundtable, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1992
1991
Accounting for mergers and acquisitions in the UK
Higson C J
in Proceedings of the Mergers and Acquisitions Symposium, Paris, 1991
Performance-related pay: does it affect reported performance?
Likierman J A; Higson C J; Taylor A
Management Accounting 1991 Dec Vol 69:11 p 30
Use of accounting information in the analysis of takeovers and mergers: a review
Higson C J
in The future shape of financial reports, ICAEW/ICAS, 1991
1990
Accounting information and the capital market
Marsh P R; Barwise T P; Higson C J; Likierman J A
in Power M ed., Brand and goodwill accounting strategies, Woodhead Faulkner, 1990
Brands as separable assets
Likierman J A; Barwise P; Higson C; Marsh P
Business Strategy Review 1990 Vol 1:2 p 43-61
Choice of accounting method in UK mergers and acquisitions
Higson C J
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, 1990
1989
Should the value of brands go on the balance sheet?
Likierman J A; Higson C J
Management Accounting 1989 Oct Vol 67:10 p 24
2017
Aggregate and firm level volatility: the role of acquisitions and disposals
Devonald L; Higson C; Holly S
Cambridge working paper economics
2015
Operating Leverage over the Business Cycle
Bhattacharjee A; Higson C; Holly S
Cambridge working paper economics
2014
Asymmetric Price Adjustment, Sticky Costs and Operating Leverage over the Business Cycle
Bhattacharjee A; Higson C; Holly S
SEEC Discussion Papers
2007
Macroeconomic conditions and business exit: determinants of failures and acquisitions of UK firms
Bhattacharjee A; Higson C; Holly S; Kattuman P
Social Sciences Research Network
2002
Macro economic instability and business exit: determinants of failures and acquisitions of large UK firms
Higson C J et al.
Accounting Working Paper
Modelling aggregate UK merger and acquisition activity
Higson C J; Holly S; Platis S
Accounting Working Paper
2001
Business cycle, macroeconomic shocks and the cross section: the growth of UK quoted companies
Higson C J et al.
Accounting Working Paper
Cross sectional dynamics of the US business cycle: 1950-1999
Higson C J; Holly S; Kattuman P
Accounting Working Paper
1999
Use of CARR in the assessment of profitability by competition authorities
Higson C J
Regulation Initiative Working Paper Series
2019
Financial Statements: Economic Analysis and Interpretation, 3rd ed.
Higson C
Rivington Publishing Ltd, London
2001
Market metrics: what should we tell the shareholders?
Ambler T; Barwise T P; Higson C J
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, 2001
1993
Implications of surplus ACT for the location of financial services
Higson C J; Elliott J
Corporation of London, 1993
Performance-linked pay: a survey of executive compensation systems and senior managers' attitudes
Higson C J et al.
London Business School, 1993
1991
Effect of top management remuneration on reported performance
Likierman J A; Higson C J; Taylor A
London Business School/Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 1991
1990
Accounting and top management remuneration
Likierman J A; Higson C J; Taylor A
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 1990
1989
Accounting for brands
Barwise T P; Higson C J; Likierman J A; Marsh P R
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales/London Business School, 1989
Teaching portfolio
Our teaching offering is updated annually. Faculty and programme material are subject to change.