Options Debate Explodes Anew With FASB Plan

Updated from March 30

The Financial Accounting Standards Board returns this week to a battlefield where it was vanquished and left for dead 10 years ago, hoping to revive support for a proposal that would put the cost of stock options in the plain sight of investors on corporate earnings statements.

The new proposal, expected as early as Tuesday, is a blow to Silicon Valley, which has fought such regulations for years while continuing its practice of awarding generous options to employees and, especially, top executives. The new rule from the nation's lead accounting body would force that practice into the open, with unforeseen and potentially far-reaching implications on corporate practices and share prices. (On Wednesday, FASB formally released a draft of the new rule, which is now opened for public comment. The accounting group expects to issue a final rule this fall.) ...