Companies must reveal more about joint ventures

Companies will have to disclose in their accounts far more information about the joint ventures and other arrangements that they are increasingly using as the means of entering new markets as a result of a new accounting standard published today. In response to representations from such companies as British Aerospace and BP, which derive substantial parts of their business from such arrangements, the Accounting Standards Board has devised a new form of accounting - the gross equity method - that expands the existing equity method to show the venturer's share of its joint ventures' turnover, gross assets and gross liabilities.

Financial Reporting Standard 9, also requires the results of associate operations to be included in the investor's consolidated financial statements, and assets, liabilities and cash flows of other joint arrangements - such as one-off construction projects - to be included in their participants' individual and consolidated financial statements.