NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A new rule that requires companies to record pension costs on their balance sheets is expected to have widespread effects on corporations and their workers, who could learn if their employers are keeping solvent retirement funds.

Supporters of the rule, which will be issued Friday by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in Norwalk, say it will be an important tool for workers keeping track of their retirement funds. Opponents warn that it could lead to more companies freezing or ending pension benefits.

The rule could have one of the largest impacts on corporate balance sheets of any accounting standard that the board has issued, experts said. It goes into effect for public companies at the end of the year and includes pensions, healthcare plans and other retirement obligations.

"We don't think today's reporting really reflects the economic reality of these plans," said George Batavick, a board member. "These are real obligations. We feel these obligations should be properly shown on the balance sheet."

"We feel with this new standard, people will have additional information to determine a company's ability to make good on its retirement promises to its employees," Batavick said.

Critics say the method used to determine the obligation could lead to large liabilities on the balance sheet that may force some companies to renegotiate loans and even lead some to freeze pensions. Companies have increasingly ended traditional pension plans in recent years.

"This change is so significant that many employers will consider plan changes as a result. Some plans are likely to be frozen and others significantly curtailed," wrote Tonya Manning, chief actuary to Aon Consulting, the third largest benefits consulting firm in the country, in a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Supporters acknowledge that some companies may freeze pensions or close the plans to new employees. But they said the current rules are so filled with assumptions and other flaws that companies with pension shortfalls report surpluses or much smaller obligations than would be disclosed under the new rule.

"This is long, long overdue," said David Zion, an actuary analyst with Credit Suisse. "I think it's bad accounting and bad financial rules that cause some pretty poor behavior around these plans."

Under current rules, the nation's 500 largest companies show a surplus of $121 billion in their pension plans, Zion said. The new rule would show that the same plans are underfunded by $145 billion, he said.

The new standard, which goes into effect for private companies next year, would reduce shareholder equity by $248 billion as a result of increasing the liability side of the ledger, according to Zion.

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