General Electric to Expense Options; Certifies Financials

GE(GE) certified its financial results with the SEC on Wednesday and will start expensing employee stock options this quarter.

"Certifying our SEC filings underscores our unyielding commitment to integrity and to providing investors with accurate, relevant and understandable information," said CEO Jeff Immelt in a statement.

Since the beginning of the year, GE has been under pressure to step up its disclosure. In the first quarter, the Connecticut-based conglomerate held its first-ever earnings conference call. And last week GE said it would break finance unit, which has been criticized for its impenetrability, into four groups.

Wednesday's decision to expense stock options is considered another attempt to appease investors. "We have been disclosing the effect of options in our annual reports, but investors clearly want these expenses incorporated into results, and we will do so," Immelt said in a statement.

More than 35,000 GE employees hold its stock options, the company said. GE estimates, under current accounting rules, that expensing options will reduce 2002 net income by less than $30 million.

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