The Impact on SFAS 158 on U.S. Balance Sheets and Asymmetries in International Reporting of Post-Employment Benefits

British and international accounting standards for reporting post-employment benefits either require or permit the reporting of the funded status of these plans directly in the balance sheet. U.S. accounting standards will require this treatment for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2006. Thus, global accounting standards for post-employment benefits appear to be converging. This paper estimates that application of SFAS 158 to the Fortune 250 companies would cause a pretax decrease in net assets of nearly $400 billion. Having estimated the U.S. impact, the paper then evaluates the remaining asymmetries in applying U.S. and international standards.