PFI reporting

COMPANIES involved in the Government's Private Finance Initiative will have to disclose their liabilities under the contracts in their accounts following an amendment to the rules on "reporting the substance of transactions" published by the Accounting Standards Board today.

The amendment has immediate effect.

In making the change, the board chaired by Sir David Tweedie has resisted Treasury calls for less stringent guidelines and responded to concern among auditors that there might be widespread problems if such transactions did not appear on company balance sheets.