The Norwalk-based Financial Accounting Standards Board announced in March a proposal mandating companies deduct from their bottom line the cost of stock options. The move, which would take effect next year if approved, would have profound consequences for corporate profits and executive pay.

In a news release Wednesday, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called on FASB to postpone the implementation date and finalizing any standard until conducting comprehensive field testing. All three organizations had previously expressed their opposition to the option-expensing requirement.

"Investors deserve to know whether this new accounting standard will value employee stock options accurately or inaccurately," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote, saying it strongly opposed the proposed standard.

Michael Crooch, a board member of FASB, said the organization has visited 17 companies of all sizes to determine the types of challenges they would face. He said FASB does not believe field tests are needed, noting that some companies have calculated the value of stock options for years and a new mandate in Canada has been implemented with minimal problems.

"The collective decision was we didn't think we needed to do field tests," Crooch said. "We recognize this is a big change."

Crooch said there are no plans to change the implementation date. FASB is reviewing about 5,000 letters commenting on the proposal, officials said.

Companies now don't have to record the cost of options as an expense on their income statements, though an increasing number have begun to do so voluntarily. Instead, they must include the potential cost in a footnote, making it difficult for investors to gauge their effect on earnings.

-- John Christoffersen