Companies may take advantage of big changes in financial reports due to new European accounting rules to clear the decks of asset write-downs amid the wave of unfamiliar numbers, analysts and accountants said on Tuesday. Under the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) - which the European Union introduced on January 1 - some companies have already reported big changes in their accounts, but investors have been largely sanguine about these so far.
Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group's saw its shares fall just 0.6 percent in November when it said IFRS rules would cut its pension assets by $4.9 billion.
Shares in mobile phone giant Vodafone Group were virtually unchanged when it said in January changes in goodwill reporting would lift reported profits by 6.8 billion pounds ($12.72 billion). Most companies will start reporting IFRS numbers in earnest this month when they reveal 2004 results, and the lack of concern among investors so far suggests to some experts an opportunity to exploit the transition period. "There will be some clearing of the decks - a lot might get lost in the shuffle," said Tony Cope, board member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the global body responsible for setting the new standards.
The new rules change the way companies account for pensions, goodwill and complex financial derivatives, which is likely to result in a flood of new figures from companies. This means any other unfavourable numbers may go unnoticed by investors.
"It's a big assumption that the City can digest all this new information and say 'this is something unexpected'," said Ken Lee, accounting and valuation analyst at Citigroup.
But analysts emphasise that those reporting so far have been mostly big companies which have managed their communication with markets well, and reaction may be different to less well-advertised changes.
There are several ways companies can use the new rules to manage the transition.
A central theme of IFRS is for companies to update more regularly than before the value of assets according to what they are worth. This means that in 2005 they can revisit assets and alter the look of their balance sheet.
Companies have some discretion on the degree of changes they introduce. For example, they can increase their equity, by revaluing assets which have increased in value, or decrease it, by taking write-downs on goodwill from past acquisitions. "On goodwill impairment there's a chance that companies will take their biggest hit this year," said Cope. "In the United States (when they converted to a similar standard in 2002) there were a lot of goodwill write-downs, it wouldn't surprise me if it were the same in Europe."
US companies took big write-downs in 2002 - Time Warner Inc took a $100 billion hit - because the new accounting rule coincided with the burst of the dotcom bubble.
Alternatively companies may choose to try and revalue assets upwards to offset massive pension deficits, which go on balance sheets for the first time as a result of IFRS, potentially damaging the ability of boards to pay shareholder dividends.
The best defence for investors is to pay attention to detail.
"Certainly there are some tactical moves when converting numbers - it's a good break-point," said Jeannot Blanchet, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.
"Investors should look at the details and ask whether it's just the reporting that is different, or is the company trying to hide something."
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