Financial Accounting Standards Board

Dennis R. Beresford, national director of accounting standards for Ernst & Whinney, has been appointed to a five-year term as chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, a group that sets financial reporting standards for businesses and nonprofit organizations.

A controversial change in accounting rules this year has allowed banks to claim billions of dollars in additional earnings simply by tweaking their bookkeeping, greatly enhancing the appearance that the industry is returning to health. A study by an accounting expert found 45 financial firms reported higher first-quarter earnings because of the change. The total benefit exceeded $3 billion. Some large firms, including Prudential Financial Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting rules, will meet today to decide whether to formally add stock options to its agenda. The move would be the first step toward a rule requiring companies to deduct option costs from profit -- an idea that is vehemently opposed by many companies, particularly in the technology sector.

Under intense pressure from Congress, accounting rule makers on Thursday voted to give banks more discretion in valuing dicey assets. The changes to so-called mark-to-market accounting standards could help banks avoid more write-downs on troubled mortgage-backed bonds. Banks also could decide to boost the value of those assets on their balance sheets, which could bolster their finances -- allaying concerns about the need to raise more capital.

Accounting Board Agrees to Change Investment Rule: The nation's rule-making board for accountants agreed to broaden a requirement that companies value their investments at market value. The proposal by the Financial Accounting Standards Board would affect a company's stated net worth, but not its profits. The measure requires companies to revalue investments according to their changing market value. Excluded are assets that the buyer intends to hold until maturity.

The accounting profession's top rule-making body tapped PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Robert Herz to succeed outgoing Chairman Edmund Jenkins, marking a significant change to the oversight of an industry tarnished by the Enron Corp. scandal. The Connecticut-based Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting standards, said Herz, 48, will assume the chairman's post upon completion of Jenkins' five-year term June 30.

Rockwell to Take $1.5-Billion Charge: Rockwell International Corp. said changes in accounting for retirement benefits will result in a $1.5-billion charge against net income. The conglomerate, with electronics, aerospace, automotive and graphics businesses, expects per-share earnings to decline 15% from 1991's $2.57 per share before the effect of the special charge, Chairman Donald R. Beall said.

* Microsoft Corp., whose MSN is the No. 2 U.S. Internet service, is building its own programs for searching the Web to rival Google Inc.'s popular service. * * General Electric Co., which last year began selling security equipment, said it acquired Irvine-based Monitoring Automation Systems, a closely held maker of software used to run surveillance and monitoring systems for businesses. Terms weren't disclosed.

FASB Panel Agrees to More Public Members: The trustees who oversee the Financial Accounting Standards Board said they have agreed to a Securities and Exchange Commission request to set aside half their seats for public members. The agreement, which was expected, would reduce business' influence over FASB, the professional body that sets accounting standards for U.S. business.

A House panel wrung a pledge Thursday from the head of an accounting board to try to issue guidelines in three weeks that will ease rules that force banks to value assets at current prices. The commitment by the chairman of the independent Financial Accounting Standards Board came amid a muscular display of congressional power at a hearing on the so-called mark-to-market accounting rules. The head of the House panel, Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.

The nation's accounting standards board voted Thursday to move ahead with a broad overhaul that would require companies to more fully disclose the financial health of their pension plans. The Financial Accounting Standards Board approved a project expected to lead to new rules requiring companies to report their pension obligations on their balance sheets.

Hurricane Katrina, though catastrophic and unforgettable, was not an "extraordinary" event for financial reporting purposes, according to the accounting industry's standards board and the nation's largest accountants group. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants advised its members this week that because a hurricane is a natural disaster "that is reasonably expected to reoccur," the losses it causes shouldn't be considered extraordinary in bookkeeping.

Merrill Lynch & Co. on Wednesday said it would require all equity research analysts to include options and other stock-based compensation in their earnings forecasts. The changes, which affect more than 1,000 companies, are intended to reflect a controversial new accounting rule that requires public companies to treat stock options as routine business expenses, such as salaries.

Companies will have to begin deducting the value of stock options from their profits next year under a measure given final approval Thursday by the nation's accounting rule maker. The Financial Accounting Standards Board rule requires public companies to start expensing options beginning with their first fiscal reporting period after June 15, 2005. Private companies and companies that file as small-business issuers are not required to comply until after Dec. 15, 2005.

Members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board on Wednesday questioned a proposed compromise formula on options expensing. The proposal by technology companies Cisco Systems Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Genentech Inc. would change the method of valuing employee stock options. It would cut the value of options by about 70%, compared with the Black-Scholes formula used by many companies that already treat options as a compensation expense.

Chevron Says Accounting Change to Lead to Loss: The San Francisco-based company said new accounting standards for oil reserves and other assets will force it to take a charge of $800 million, resulting in a fourth-quarter loss. About $680 million of the charge stems from implementation of Financial Accounting Standards Board rule No. 121, which changes the way corporations account for long-lived assets, such as oil fields. Chevron Corp.

U.S. accounting rule makers on Wednesday agreed to delay a new rule that would have forced financial institutions to take a hit to earnings from unrealized losses on bond holdings. Faced with a backlash from big banks and insurers, the Financial Accounting Standards Board said it would hold off implementing an accounting rule change for bonds until it can provide more detailed explanations addressing concerns of financial institutions.

Three influential U.S. business groups Wednesday urged accounting rule makers to hold off on requiring all employee stock options to be expensed until an acceptable valuation model is found. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Assn. of Manufacturers and Business Roundtable said the Financial Accounting Standards Board should take time to "field test" various models for estimating options costs.