The Accounting Standards Board, the UK's accounting regulator, is to align its pension valuation standard with the international equivalent, meaning companies have more flexibility in valuing their defined benefit schemes.

The board is to amend its FRS17 standard to bring it into line with IAS19, which allows companies to choose between giving a snapshot valuation of the assets and liabilities of a pension fund, known as "fair value", or spreading the valuations out over a period of time, called "smoothing".