A delegation of global standard-setters, auditors, regulators and credit rating agencies will next month consider the impacts that accounting changes have had on the world's credit markets. The accounting world conference, Accounting Influence on Current and Future Credit Markets, hosted by Standard & Poor's in New York, will scrutinise the looming changes in accounting and financial reporting standards, and will look at how these issues are being tackled by the capital markets. Topics on the agenda include fair value, off-balance sheet and securitisation activities, pension funding and reporting, financial statements presentation, and International Financial Reporting Standards. 'The interactive dialogue will consider what recent accounting and financial reporting developments may mean for, and how they are affected by, the economy, the continued challenging market, and the changed landscape,' Standard & Poor's said. Expert commentators expected to attend include Peter Carlson, executive vice president and chief accounting officer of MetLife; Julie Erhardt, deputy chief accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission; Patrick Finnegan and James Leisenring, both board members of the IASB; Susan Freshour, a partner in the financial services industry of Deloitte & Touche; Arthur Lindo, associate director and chief accountant of the Federal Reserve System; and Matthew Schroeder, managing director and head of accounting policy, Goldman Sachs.