From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Mon Jul 17 2006 - 18:56:19 EDT
Tony,
have you heard of or read this book? We live in the (dis-) information age.
rb
Smoke & Mirrors, Inc.: Accounting for Capitalism
(Cornell Studies in Money) (Hardcover)
by Nicolas Véron, Matthieu Autret, Alfred Galichon, George Holoch (Translator)
List Price:
$29.95
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Enron, Arthur Andersen, Parmalat, AIG: business
headlines over the last few years have stimulated
worldwide interest in accounting responsibilities
and standards. Smoke & Mirrors, Inc., is a
remarkable introduction to contemporary
accounting and its central importance for the
operation of modern capitalism. Beginning with
the financial status of the eponymous fictional
company-a fireworks manufacturer-Nicolas Véron,
Matthieu Autret, and Alfred Galichon dissect the
ways in which manipulation of financial reporting
can convert a rotten balance sheet into a picture
of robust financial health.
After deftly establishing the ease with which
accounting sleight-of-hand may paint a different
and rosy financial prospect, Véron and his
coauthors provide a brief history of accounting's
emergence and its key concepts, focusing on the
scope for manipulation (including a detailed
account of some tricks with which Enron cooked
its books). They then shift their focus to the
political economy of various actors involved in
the preparation, assurance, and use of financial
information and the new challenges facing
regulators as capital markets spread across
national boundaries. The authors challenge
standard beliefs that accounting practices are
neutral and involve the mere reporting of
objective data. They trace how different
accounting rules, which alter the calculus of
what counts as a "fair representation" of
business dealings, can change economic behavior.
For students of business finance, practicing
accountants and businesspeople, and general
readers who have followed a seemingly endless
parade of financial scandals with disbelief,
Smoke & Mirrors, Inc., provides a clear and
concise overview of the use and abuse of
accounting.
From the Back Cover
"This book is a fascinating and lively read. I
know of no other book that shows with the
concreteness of Smoke & Mirrors, Inc., how
different economic and political systems demand
and produce different kinds of financial
information and how the information shapes
business practices."-Suzanne Berger, MIT, author
of How We Compete
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
* Hardcover: 233 pages
* Publisher: Cornell University Press (June 1, 2006)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0801444160
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