On January 2, 2020, Bluth Company began using straight-line depreciation for a certain class of assets. In the past, the company had used double-declining-balance depreciation for these assets. As of January 2, 2020, the amount of the change in accumulated depreciation is $40,000. The appropriate tax rate is 40%.

What's the separately reported change in 2020 earnings?

a. an increase of $24,000

b. There's no cumulative effect of the change as reported in earnings.

c. a decrease of $40,000

d. an increase of $40,000