Poor old AIB. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to take the lead in the interests of openness and transparency. The bank became the first Irish company to adopt the proposed new pensions accounting standard, FRS17, when it released its full-year results last February.

At the time, the move resulted in a slight gain for the company but six months on, the picture is looking rather different.

The collapse in equity markets has hit the assets in which its pension funds are invested, forcing the bank to reveal a pension liability of €81 million. This compares to a surplus of €255 million at the end of December and €534 million this time last year.

However, the next actuarial valuation of the bank's pension funds does not take place until the start of 2004, leaving plenty of time for equity markets to recover.

Of more concern for the bank is that the initiative will have been a complete waste of time if FRS17, put on the backburner by the Accounting Standards Board, does not form part of the new international canon of accounting rules currently being drafted.