Thirteen accounting bodies, including the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica), recently co-signed an open letter to leaders attending the Copenhagen climate change meetings. They also said the proposed move would be beneficial as it would drive the scale of behavioural change necessary to achieve a low-carbon economy.

The signatories believe an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — as supported by the Group of Eight summit in July — can only be achieved by aligning the actions of governments and businesses so they are mutually reinforcing.

The universally accepted standards should build on and refine existing climate change initiatives. To develop the standard, an independent, stakeholder-led standard-setting body, with appropriate accountability to public authorities, must be established, the signatories have said.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Financial Services Agency has opted to allow  companies use International Financial Reporting Standards beginning March 2010 leaving the USA as the only major economy not using the global reporting rules in some form.

The Japanese FSA announced domestic listed companies that met certain requirements will be given the option to prepare their consolidated financial statements under IFRS starting from financial years ending on or after March 31, 2010. The FSA said it would decide whether to make IFRS mandatory for all companies “around 2012.”