Well, this is good news. Amazon.com announced yesterday that it would start to treat stock options granted to executives and employees as an expense. A number of companies, most notably Coca-Cola and The Washington Post Group, have announced that they will be taking this step. Warren Buffett is a major proponent of this measure and he owns large stakes in Coca-Cola and the Washington Post. But up until now, no major tech company has done this. Since tech companies rely on stock options to compensate employees to a much greater extent than traditional companies, they have argued the most vehemently against expensing stock options. Hopefully, other tech companies, including Expedia, will take this step as well.
I don't think it will take care of any of the accounting problems currently plaguing Wall Street, but it will make financial statements a bit more reflective of the underlying health of the companies that make them.