Opponents of post-meltdown reforms to corporate governance are trying to hold back change by focusing on Washington. The US Chamber of Commerce is spending $100m (€69m, ￡63m) to try to defeat any substantive reforms. They are missing the point. No matter what happens in Washington, the market is forcing through significant and pervasive reforms. The companies that first understand that will benefit from a lower cost of capital and more committed long-term investors. As we understand better the mistakes of the past and the challenges ahead, fund managers and analysts will look at “new fundamentals”, four elements that will become as important as cash flow and return on investment.

First, accounting. The pressure is increasing to harmonise global accounting standards. As markets are unshackled from the borders of geography, cross-border apples-to-apples comparisons become more significant. Even more important, however, is the pressure to rethink the value of our traditional approach to accounting. There is a reason accounting principles are called “generally accepted” rather than “generally accurate”. The accounting system is too grounded in a 19th-century notion of value based on hard assets. What useful information did we get from this about the value of subprime derivatives?

Investors will be looking for more and better information about human and intellectual capital, such as employee training, turnover and patents. They will be looking for more and better information about risk management. Accounting will evolve to put less emphasis on providing a snapshot and more on the basis for projections and on “what-if” scenarios. And investors will look for more and better information about carbon footprints and other environmental impacts. Like tobacco, climate change has moved from social policy to the risk management category. Dumb companies will ignore it. Benchmark-driven companies will have a compliance-based approach and tick the boxes. But innovative companies will recognise strategic opportunities created by this increased focus.