NEWS RELEASE 12/31/02
FASB Amends Transition Guidance for Stock Options and Provides Improved Disclosures
Norwalk, CT, December 31, 2002—The FASB has published Statement No. 148, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation—Transition and Disclosure, which amends FASB Statement No. 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation. In response to a growing number of companies announcing plans to record expenses for the fair value of stock options, Statement 148 provides alternative methods of transition for a voluntary change to the fair value based method of accounting for stock-based employee compensation. In addition, Statement 148 amends the disclosure requirements of Statement 123 to require more prominent and more frequent disclosures in financial statements about the effects of stock-based compensation.
Under the provisions of Statement 123, companies that adopted the preferable, fair value based method were required to apply that method prospectively for new stock option awards. This contributed to a “ramp-up” effect on stock-based compensation expense in the first few years following adoption, which caused concern for companies and investors because of the lack of consistency in reported results. To address that concern, Statement 148 provides two additional methods of transition that reflect an entity’s full complement of stock-based compensation expense immediately upon adoption, thereby eliminating the ramp-up effect.
Statement 148 also improves the clarity and prominence of disclosures about the pro forma effects of using the fair value based method of accounting for stock-based compensation for all companies—regardless of the accounting method used—by requiring that the data be presented more prominently and in a more user-friendly format in the footnotes to the financial statements. In addition, the Statement improves the timeliness of those disclosures by requiring that this information be included in interim as well as annual financial statements. In the past, companies were required to make pro forma disclosures only in annual financial statements.
The transition guidance and annual disclosure provisions of Statement 148 are effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2002, with earlier application permitted in certain circumstances. The interim disclosure provisions are effective for financial reports containing financial statements for interim periods beginning after December 15, 2002.
As previously reported, the FASB has solicited comments from its constituents relating to the accounting for stock-based compensation, including valuation of stock options, as part of its recently issued Invitation to Comment, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation: A Comparison of FASB Statement No. 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, and Its Related Interpretations, and IASB Proposed IFRS, Share-based Payment. That Invitation to Comment explains the similarities of and differences between the proposed guidance on accounting for stock-based compensation included in the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) recently issued exposure draft and the FASB’s guidance under Statement 123.
After considering the responses to the Invitation to Comment, the Board plans to make a decision in the latter part of the first quarter of 2003 about whether it should undertake a more comprehensive reconsideration of the accounting for stock options. As part of that process, the Board may revisit its 1995 decision permitting companies to disclose the pro forma effects of the fair value based method rather than requiring all companies to recognize the fair value of employee stock options as an expense in the income statement. Under the provisions of Statement 123 that remain unaffected by Statement 148, companies may either recognize expenses on a fair value based method in the income statement or disclose the pro forma effects of that method in the footnotes to the financial statements.
Copies of Statement 148 may be obtained by contacting the FASB’s Order Department at 800-748-0659 or by placing an order at the FASB’s website at www.fasb.org.
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Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors and others rely on credible, transparent and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.
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