To: dale_laroy who wrote (73722 ) 3/6/2002 1:46:38 PM From: Petz Read Replies (1) | Respond to Here's a very informative article on accounting for employess stock options, and the chances for reforming the accounting of and the tax consequences of such options.thestreet.com In most years, I'd give any effort to reform this set of accounting and tax rules no chance at all. Lined up against reform you'll find the same powerful coalition of technology companies and politicians that killed tighter rules back in the mid-1990s. These folks are motivated to defend the status quo with energy and cash, and they have a lot of the latter. Reform, on the other hand, lacks a natural and energized constituency. You may be outraged that Intel can claim $1.73 a share in earnings when it really made $1.40, and that the company is getting a $900 million tax break from the U.S. Treasury to boot. But if you're an Intel shareholder directly or through a mutual fund, do you really want to see Intel's shares take another hit in exchange for accounting accuracy? Personally I believe that the long-term benefits to the capital markets of honest numbers are worth the short-term pain to individual stocks, but as an Intel shareholder I have to admit that I feel ambivalent about any call for reform, even my own.
