Stock Options. CFO.com reports about the costs of expensing stock options. FASB's decision would slash earnings of the biggest companies significantly, according to S&P.

If yesterday's long-expected decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to require the expensing of stock options is implemented, the accounting change would retroactively reduce estimated 2004 earnings per share for the S&P 500 by 7.4 percent, according to Standard & Poor's