TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AT&T; Move Creates Fourth-Quarter Loss: New York-based AT&T; said it will set aside $1.3 billion to comply with new accounting rules that chiefly cover how severance payments are reflected on a company’s books. The move will reduce AT&T;’s fourth-quarter earnings after taxes by about 96 cents a share, resulting in a loss. Without it, the company said it would have earned $1.15 billion, or 85 cents a share, which would be in line with analysts’ expectations. In addition to the accounting charges, AT&T; said its 1993 results will also reflect about $120 million in costs associated with restructuring NCR Corp., its computer manufacturing subsidiary. NCR last fall offered early retirement incentives to 5,000 of its 27,000 employees.