Excerpt: [T]he world's main accounting standard-setters this week joined the most important battle in their history: the attempt to make companies treat share-based payments to their employees as an expense. Up to now, companies have had the choice to record stock options only in the footnotes to their financial statements. Under a new draft rule from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), a private group based in London, companies will have to deduct them from their profits.  MORE >>