Comment Re:MS doesn't actually turn a profit. (Score 1) 486
--armb, in another article in this thread, mentioned the URL http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/4526.html , where the author states that all taxable income was sheltered from taxes due to providing employee stock options.--
Which, from what I know about it, is an incorrect interpretation. Microsoft doesn't have to account for compensation cost of options until they are exercised. Some claim that this can overstate income by not having the options valued on an ongoing basis. MS, in their 10k, also provides a pro-forma financial statement using an alternative accounting method that is being pushed by the International Accounting Standards Board as a better way to account currently for those outstanding options. In this pro forma method, MS still has a tax liability.
--You wouldn't happen to work for Microsoft, now would you?--
No, I don't, nor have I in the past.
--In any case, it's noteworthy that this is your first posting.--
Should I have posted something else first?
Which, from what I know about it, is an incorrect interpretation. Microsoft doesn't have to account for compensation cost of options until they are exercised. Some claim that this can overstate income by not having the options valued on an ongoing basis. MS, in their 10k, also provides a pro-forma financial statement using an alternative accounting method that is being pushed by the International Accounting Standards Board as a better way to account currently for those outstanding options. In this pro forma method, MS still has a tax liability.
--You wouldn't happen to work for Microsoft, now would you?--
No, I don't, nor have I in the past.
--In any case, it's noteworthy that this is your first posting.--
Should I have posted something else first?
