Nicolas Véron

Le grand dérèglement

 

Le grand dérèglement: Chroniques du capitalisme financier, a collection of my colums published over the past four years, is published today by Editions Lignes de Repères and available in bookstores throughout France.

It is a merciless, warts-and-all exercise: included are almost all columns written for La Tribune since March 2005 (bar four which the publisher thought were redundant), without any editing or updating in the text.

Columns are sorted into three thematic sections: the crisis; regulation and governance; globalisation and France.

Download GrandDereglement to read the corresponding press release in French.

L'Information financière en crise (2004)

L'Information financière en crise: Comptabilité et capitalisme was published in May 2004 by Odile Jacob. I co-authored it with two students I helped work on their thesis at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris, Matthieu Autret and Alfred Galichon. It was later published in English by Cornell University Press.

L'Architecture des Villes (1995)

I am completing this blog with mentions of some old writings. This post is about L'Architecture des Villes, a book I wrote in 1992-95 together with the recognized architect Ricardo Bofill, in whose Barcelona firm I had been a trainee in the spring of 1992 (yes, just before the Olympics).

L'Architecture des Villes, which was published in French by Odile Jacob in 1995, looks at how urban design has evolved across history, ending with a dialogue with Bofill on the situation of the French banlieues. It was a great experience for me to write that book - at the time I had also started to study architecture, in parallel with my more traditional French engineer's training - and I'm very gratefull to Ricardo Bofill for having generously given me the opportunity to co-sign it with him.

The book is still available on Amazon.

The Global Accounting Experiment

Bruegel just released my new study, The Global Accounting Experiment on the future of international accounting standard-setting, the second in its new Blueprint series.

In my opinion, accounting provides a unique case study of global economic governance in the making. This 'experiment' currently faces two significant challenges: the International Accounting Standards Board has not built enough legitimacy as a global policymaking entity, and there is a high risk that implementation within the European Union will not be consistent enough to fulfil the promise of financial statements' comparability.

The Global Accounting Experiment includes specific recommendations to the IASB, the EU, the US, the investment community and other participants so that this ambitious endeavour does not end in failure.

I also published a condensed version of the main arguments in the May issue of Financial World, the London-based industry monthly: Download FinancialWorld_May07.pdf.

Another related piece on IASB governance was published by Telos, a French-speaking discussion website.

Smoke & Mirrors, Inc.: Accounting for Capitalism (July 2006)

Smoke & Mirrors, Inc.: Accounting for Capitalism is a primer and thought-provoker on accounting and its role in contemporary financial systems.

It was written for accountants or non-accountants who want to understand what underlies the ever more frequent headlines about accounting and financial reporting - such as Enron and WorldCom, stock options expensing, adoption in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Europe. Cornell University Press published it in July 2006.

Download Review_FT_100906.pdf to read Barney Jopson's review in the Financial Times on 10 September 2006.

Download SmokeandMirrors_Flyer.pdf for a summary and order form. You can also buy the book on Amazon.

The book was first published in French in May 2004 by Odile Jacob. However, Smoke & Mirrors, Inc. is much more than a mere translated version, and includes comprehensive updates for the English-speaking readership.

I wrote it with two younger co-authors, Matthieu Autret and Alfred Galichon, which at the time were still studying at Ecole des Mines in Paris and had worked on a joint thesis on accounting. They contributed much to Smoke & Mirrors, Inc.: for example, the imaginary story of the company eponymous with the book's title is their idea. They have now started successful professional careers, Matthieu at the European Commission and Alfred as an economist.