Windstream Corp. of Little Rock announced Wednesday that it is changing its method of recognizing actuarial gains and losses for its pension plan.
The gains and losses will now be recognized in the year in which they occur, rather than amortized over a period of years, and will be recorded on the income statement in the fourth quarter of each year, the publicly traded telecommunications company (NYSE: %%WIN%%) said in a news release.
The change is expected to incur a non-cash charge of about $163 million to its fourth quarter 2011 earnings. The charge is due to a decrease in the discount rate from 5.31 percent to 4.64 percent, as well as lower than expected returns on plan assets.
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