Option Expensing: The Time Is at Hand  By Howard Silverblatt
"All costs of wages, salaries, and benefits for people involved
in a business' operations should be charged to the business."
With that statement on Nov. 7, 2001, Standard & Poor's launched
S&P Core Earnings, and with it the belief that option expense
should be included and reported in earnings.  Flash forward four
years, and Corporate America is bracing for a similar shift:
Starting with fiscal 2006, all companies are required under the
Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) new rules to
expense options. The question is: How they will be reported?
LINGERING CONTROVERSY. We at Standard & Poor's have made our
approach clear. In order to insure the timely and proper
dissemination of information, Standard & Poor's will include
option expense in all of its earnings, and our equity analysts
will include option expense in their forward estimates.  The use
will be uniform and universal. The investment community benefits
when it has clear and consis