WASHINGTON --- World leaders moved toward agreement Friday on an early warning system for financial calamities, a commitment to tougher accounting rules and other modest steps to begin restoring stability in a crisis threatening the livelihoods of people around the globe.

Nearly two dozen leaders met in Washington on Friday in the largest gathering of its kind there in nearly a decade. They dined in extravagance at the White House before today's negotiations over how best to wrestle both large and developing economies back from the brink.

The leaders were on track to approve measures to make the world financial system more accountable to investors and more transparent to regulators, diplomatic sources said.

Those sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because leaders had yet to agree on their final communique, said the emerging agreement calls for an action plan to improve international monitoring of markets. The leaders also were expected to endorse more effective rules governing how companies value their assets, a weakness seen as partly responsible for the current financial crisis.

A second summit is envisioned in early spring after Barack Obama becomes president. The first meeting, called by President Bush, falls in a period of transition that leaves unclear what actions the U.S. is ready to take.

The U.S. approach of boosting oversight of financial markets seemed to be holding sway over Europe's desire for tougher internationally enforced regulation.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon met former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Rep. Jim Leach and stressed that a return to protectionism would only complicate economic recovery efforts, according to the Mexican leader's office. Ms. Albright and Mr. Leach are representing Mr. Obama, who stayed away so as not to complicate matters for Mr. Bush.

Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and India were among those in Washington.

A new "college of supervisors," made up of financial regulators from many nations, and an early warning system were among the ideas likely to be included in a joint communique.

The early warning system, advocated by the Europeans, would watch for signs of problems such as the bubble in the U.S. housing market that eventually burst.

The "college of supervisors" would be a body in which regulators tasked with scrutinizing the world's largest financial institutions would compare notes in hopes of spotting excessive risk-taking.