Owing in part to unprecedented controversy, the Financial Accounting Standards Board deliberated over ten years about the accounting for postretirement obligations other than pensions. The stakeholders in the controversy included some who predicted worldwide financial doom if the obligations were reported, others who claimed that reported liabilities overlooked significant off-balance-sheet financing if not reported, and still others who were daunted by the sheer complexity of the measurement issues involved. Other accounting issues have been controversial, but no other issue has involved such staggering dollar amounts.

Required: 

Using the newspaper and magazines file in NEXIS, Mead Data Central's automated data retrieval system, or newspapers and magazines in a library, select an article about the effect on a publicly traded company's financial statements of adopting FASB Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 106, "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions." Using the annual report file in the National Automated Accounting Research System (NAARS), or copies of annual reports in a library, select the annual report of the same company issued for the fiscal year referred to in the article. Draft a report that accomplishes the following:
1. Summarizes the article, indicating key issues, like management's or the financial community's reaction to the effect of the disclosure on reported income.
2. Lists and explains questions an auditor would likely pose to the management of the company you've selected.
3. Summarizes the company's disclosures about postretirement health care obligations from the balance sheet, the income statement (if separately disclosed), the footnote summarizing accounting policies (Note 1), and the footnote summarizing the health care obligation.