tlement rates generally match the duration of the benefit obligation and are therefore
long-term rates. However, these rates change each year according to changes in gen-
eral interest rates and other factors. Changes in the discount rate have consequential
effects on the present values of accumulated and projected benefit obligations. Under
IAS 19, however, the emphasis is on selecting “compatible” assumptions even
though the absolute values used may not reflect current experience. Due to the em-
phasis on long-term considerations in IAS 19, the assumptions selected may differ
significantly from those that would be selected in the United States, which in turn
means that the present values of accumulated and projected benefit obligations will
differ.
In the wake of the burst of the technology bubble in the U.S. and an economic re-
cession, stock prices have fallen dramatically. Now just as unrealized gains during
the bull market were deferred to be recognized as an adjustment to pension expense
over future accounting periods, the downturn in stock prices has witnessed the de-
ferral of significant unrealized losses. The result is that pension expense may be
measured assuming investment returns of 7% or more when stock markets returns are
nil or negative. There is little doubt that further reforms are needed to remove com-
plexity of the deferral and smoothing provisions from pension accounting and im-
prove the transparency of reporting through timely recognition of pension investment
performance.
(f ) Accounting for Income Taxes. All developed countries have some form of in-
come tax system that calls for companies to pay to the government a certain portion
of their earnings, as defined. For income tax purposes, the definition of taxable in-
come will differ from the definition of “pretax book income” for financial-account-
ing purposes in countries that do not require book-to-tax conformity. In some cases,
these differences are due to the timing of revenue or expense recognition for tax ver-
sus financial-reporting purposes. This situation gives rise to an issue as to whether the
effect associated with a given item of revenue or expense should be recognized dur-
ing the period in which the item appears on the income statement or during the pe-
riod in which it appears on the tax return. To recognize the expense during the period
in which the item appears on the income statement gives rise to an associated asset
or liability (referred to as deferred tax) on the balance sheet. In theory, it also results
in a stabilized effective tax rate.
For certain countries, the issue of whether deferred taxes should appear on the bal-
ance sheet does not arise, because financial reporting of revenues and expenses gen-
erally follows the tax recognition in the financial statements; consequently, relatively
few timing differences arise. Examples of countries that historically have generally
not been required to deal with the issue of deferred taxes are Germany and Japan.
However, a major shift in reporting by enterprises in these countries has been toward
the presentation of consolidated financial statements. Because the book/tax conform-
ity rules do not normally apply on consolidation, deferred taxes are increasingly be-
coming part of the financial landscape in these countries too. In Japan, recognition of
deferred taxes has been required since 1999.
In most countries, timing differences do arise between book and tax recognition of
certain items of revenue and expense. An example of this is different depreciation
methods used for book and tax purposes. When the variations are caused by items of
revenue or expense included in the determination of book income in one period and
taxable income in another period, the two most often used methods to record deferred
12.6 FINANCIAL STATEMENT EFFECTS 12 • 17