Richard Block

Richard Block joined the faculty as an adjunct professor in the fall of 2006. He teaches graduate courses in Financial and Managerial Accounting and Accounting Information Systems. Currently, Mr. Block is the Consulting CFO to a family-owned and recently sold $225m residential and commercial heating oil and propane provider, and a privately funded feature film production company, whose just completed film is being marketed for distribution. Prior to these two projects, Mr. Block was the Controller / Treasurer of Terascala Inc., a venture-funded manufacturer of high-performance parallel file system storage solutions. Prior to Terascala, Mr. Block served for 2 and a half years as a partner in Tatum LLC, a national executive services firm, providing interim financial management and consulting services to companies in significant transition. Prior to Tatum, Mr. Block served eight years as the Chief Financial Officer of Avicon Group Inc., a venture-funded RFID software and supply chain e-commerce consulting firm. Prior to Avicon, Mr. Block held a number of senior financial positions at Digital Semiconductor, a division of Digital Equipment Corporation, which was sold to Intel in 1997. Mr. Block is the co-author of Mosco, a semiconductor strategic cost and activity based management case, published in the 3rd edition of Advanced Management Accounting by Robert Kaplan & Anthony Atkinson. Mr. Block has also authored or co-authored a number of articles on Spreadsheet Use in Financial Management, Activity Based Budgeting, and Target Costing which have appeared in CFO.com, Mid-Range Systems ERP, and the International Journal of Strategic Cost Management.

Academic Degrees

• MBA, University of Chicago
• BS, New York University

Academic Interests

Activity Based Budgeting; Activity Based Costing; Accounting Information Systems; Management Reporting; Working Capital Management

Publications

Journal Articles

• Block, R.J., Bell, J.E. (2009). Spreadsheets and IRR: It's All in the Timing. CFO Magzine. Vol: February 27, 2009, Issue: February 27, 2009, Page: 5. Argyle Publishing. link
• Block, R.J., Bell, J.E. (2009). Spreadsheets at Work: Your Own IRR. CFO Magzine. Vol: February 20, 2009, Issue: February 20, 2009, Page: 5. Argyle Publishing. link
• Block, R.J., Bell, J.E. (2008). Sloppy Spreadsheets, Readers Speak Out. CFO Magazine Online. Issue: 8/25/2008. Economist Group Business. link
• Block, R.J., Bell, J.E. (2008). Sloppier Spreadsheets: How Bad Can They Get. Vol: August 20, 2018, Issue: August 20, 2008, Page: 5. Argyle Publishing. link
• Block, R.J., Ansari, S.L. (2008). Sloppy Spreadsheets: Readers Speak Out. CFO Magzine. Vol: June 18, 2008, Issue: June 18, 2008, Page: 5. Argyle Publishing. link
• Block, R.J., Ansari, S. (2008). Spreadsheet Worst Practices. CFO Magzine. Vol: May 18 2008, Issue: May 18 2008. Argyle Publishing. link
• Block, R.J. (2000). Activity Based Costing: A Business Process and Accounting Technology whose time has come and gone and now could be coming back again. Midrange Systems ERP. Vol: Jan-Feb 2000, Page: 5. Midrange Systems ERP.
• Block, R.J. (1999). Activity Based Budgeting at Digital Semiconductor. The Corporate Controller. Issue: June 1999. Warren, Goreham & Lamont.