â?¢ Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a welcome initiative. It could augment economic risk sharing, set the right conditions for more dynamic development of risk capital for high-growth firms and improve choices and returns for savers. This offers major potential for benefits in terms of jobs,...

This Policy Contribution reproduces the written statement prepared by the author for the hearing "The European debt and financial crisis: origins, options and implications for the US and global economy" presented at the Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance of the US...

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) have not consistently met the expectations placed on them by investors and policymakers. It is difficult, however, to improve the quality of ratings through regulatory initiatives. In the short term, changes to the CRAsâ?? regulatory environment, in a context of...

Credit rating agencies have been under the spotlight since the beginning of the current financial crisis. They failed in their assessment of US residential mortgage- based securities in the mid-2000s. Nevertheless, investors generally consider credit ratings useful to help form their views on...

Nicolas Véron responds to the UK Financial Reporting Council's Discussion paper on choice in the UK audit market.

Nicolas Véron responds to a consultation by the UK Financial Reporting Council and makes recommendations on how to address the Â?audit market problemâ?? resulting from the presence of only four international audit networks. Eventhough serious problems would be created by the disappearance of...

In this paper, presented to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Nicolas Véron discusses whether the EU should adopt the controversial IFRS 8 standard, a convergence project on how companies should report the performance of their individual business segments....

Nicolas Véron comments on the proposal for governance reform (Â?constitution reviewâ??) published in May 2008 by the IASC Foundation, the private-sector body which oversees the setting of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). He emphasizes the unprecedented nature of this global...

The ongoing financial crisis has revived the longstanding debate about fair value accounting. This policy contribution by Nicolas Véron argues that in times of market disruption, no accounting standards could lead to consensual outcomes, and that fair value remains better than proposed...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has conducted a public consultation on a â??roadmap" it proposed late last year to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in America. This debate takes particular relevance as the crisis has highlighted the importance of accounting standards...