Professor Lester teaches Taxes and Business Strategies, an elective course in the Stanford MBA program. This course is designed to give students an understanding of taxation, how individuals and companies plan, and the impacts of these decisions on society. In Spring 2024, this course will be co-taught with Professor Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato.
From 2015 through 2020, Professor Lester taught the introductory-level Financial Accounting course in the first year Stanford MBA Core Curriculum (Acct. 210). She was named a Poets and Quants “40 Best Business Professors Under 40” in 2018 and received the Stanford MBA Distinguished Teaching Award in 2021 for excellence in the classroom.
In addition, Professor Lester has taught a number of additional classes focused on corporate tax topics and her related research in this area. These include Stanford PhD Seminars on Tax Research in Accounting, Executive Education sessions on Multinational Tax Planning, and two European study trips for Stanford MBA students entitled “The Ethics and Economics of Tax Avoidance.”
Teaching Cases
The Pfizer-Allergan Tax Inversion
With Jaclyn Foroughi. 2017.
Stanford Graduate School of Business Case No. A230.
This case examines the tax and financial statement impacts of proposed tax inversions. It is designed to introduce tax inversions to students. Furthermore, students analyze the tax and financial reporting implications of an inversion by calculating the impact for a company like Pfizer.
Sticks and Stones? How Companies Respond to "Tax Shaming"
With Lisa De Simone, Jeff Hoopes, and Sheila Melvin. 2016.
Stanford Graduate School of Business Case No. A226.
This case examines how the public responds to tax planning activities of multinational corporations and how managers of these global corporations respond to public pressure. It is designed to analyze the stakeholders in corporate tax planning and governmental tax policy decisions as well as the ethical issues involved in tax avoidance.
Etsy: Keeping it Real by Keeping Taxes Low
With Lisa De Simone, Jeff Hoopes, and Sheila Melvin. 2016.
Stanford Graduate School of Business Case No. A227.
This case examines how the public responds to tax planning activities of multinational corporations and how managers of these global corporations respond to public pressure. The case also provides information about B Corporations and the pros and cons of the Benefit Corporation legal status.
