IBM Issues New Accounting Details in 2001 Annual Report

IBM Corp. on Monday published new accounting details in its 2001 annual report, under pressure from investors.

The report showed how earnings from its pension plan boosted Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM’s earnings by about $800 million in 2001, disclosed write-downs for investments and broke out other expenses and gains that had been lumped into catch-all accounting categories investors have begun to fear.

The No. 1 computer maker had raised a storm of protest by accounting for a sale of optical transceiver technology as operating profit rather than a one-time gain.

Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi dropped his rating on IBM to “market perform” from “outperform” Monday, largely because he expects IBM’s services division to post lower growth.

But he said IBM’s financial disclosures could prompt investors to rethink company performance.

A number of analysts say that IBM has not misled investors but has not been as detailed as it could have been.

In the annual report, IBM reported that income was boosted by its pension investments by $841 million in 2001, up from $728 million the previous year.

Shares of IBM closed up 15 cents to $105.24 on the New York Stock Exchange.