The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has criticised the call by SIPTU for pension fund trustees to ignore the new FRS17 accounting standard.

In a statement, the ACCA said that SIPTU had missed the point of FRS17, which requires companies to disclose publicly changes in the value of their pension funds, and accused the union of adding to the confusion surrounding the issue. The ACCA said the whole point of FRS17 was that employers and not pension fund trustees must now provide the information or run the risk of not having their accounts signed off as being "true and fair" by their auditors.

This would damage a company's reputation with shareholders and customers and could have a damaging effect on financial prospects.

Failure to meet the "true and fair" test might also arouse the interest of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the ACCA said.

The head of ACCA Ireland, Mr Roger Acton, said: "Trustees should be aware that it is not their responsibility to implement FRS17.

"Therefore, the call by SIPTU for them to resist complying with it is misconceived.

"As for employers, whether they like it or not, FRS17 now makes up part of the body of accounting rules which determines whether a set of company accounts give a true and fair view.

"This is an overriding legal requirement applicable to all registered companies. Any company failing to comply with the standard risks its reputation and future," he added.