Today’s Federal Register is here and contains corrections to temporary regulations issued under section 1502 of the Internal Revenue Code, pertaining to the suspension of losses on certain stock dispositions.
Benefits are certainly in the news today. The protests in Europe which began in France over pensions has spread to Austria, Germany and Italy as reported by Catherine Bremer for Reuters with demonstrators touting: “Make the jet set pay” and “Retirement for everyone at 60.” And then there is this article by Jonathan Chevreaua at the National Post in Canada: “Actuaries fended off day of reckoning over pensions: Regulators are … trying to identify the wounded so they can be shot.”
Regarding this hearing of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Richard H. Baker (LA), which was held yesterday, to discuss accounting treatment of employee stock options, the Associated Press for the Boston Globe reports that “fault lines are forming in Congress” over the issue. FASB Chairman Robert Herz wants Congress to stand aside and let FASB regulate the matter. The Board is currently working on a proposed rule which will be submitted for public comment. This article by Carolyn Lockhead for the Chronicle Washington Bureau at SFGate.com–“Stock options battle raging; State lawmakers aid Silicon Valley“–indicates that congressional subcommittee members seemed more “friendly” to legislation sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, and Rep. David Dreier, R- San Dimas (Los Angeles County), that would prevent expensing of options but require greater disclosure. Today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal in an article by Judith Burns reports that Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Vocker, a trustee on the International Accounting Standards Board, reminded the panel that European companies likely will start expensing stock options in 2005 and that “lavish options awards to U.S. executives” may have been a major contributor to the recent corporate scandals. The article reports that “lawmakers are split.”