Regardless, investors should take heed. Overfunded pension plans fueled by the bull market have resulted in companies taking these credits. Pension credits, simply put, are the value of a company's pension plan above what the company projects it will need to pay employees' retirement costs, explains Morningstar's Dorsey. Accounting of pension credits is prescribed by law, notes Salisbury. But investors still might have to dig to learn that 10 percent of a company's earnings consists of such credits.
Some companies make the digging easier than others.
Dorsey, who analyzed the move in a story for Morningstar, noted that the credit accounted for more than 10 percent of Lucent's earnings that year. The money didn't reflect demand for products or services, wrote Dorsey, and it had absolutely no bearing on the performance of Lucent's real business of selling communications software and hardware. That can make the profits look larger. Stock options, of course, have loomed large at high-tech companies, which relied heavily on them during the bull market in order to lure some of their best talent. Dorsey called Microsoft a model of forthright reporting.