FT: New standards for pensions accounting will transform Europe's financial landscape

20 February 2002

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The European Union's financial services action plan has given accountants a great deal of power by requiring EU-listed companies to use international accounting standards by 2005. This means that companies may have to adopt IAS 19, an international version of the British standard FRS 17, which will require UK companies to incorporate pension fund surpluses and deficits fully in their accounts. A notable consequence is that the accountancy profession will now have a profound influence in shaping Europe's financial structure.

According to Graham Bishop, an adviser to Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, the threat of IAS 19 will ensure that few continental companies will adopt defined benefit pension schemes, in which retirement incomes are related to final pay and length of service. The risks in having to mark pension funds to market values are simply too great.

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