Tax provision is the accounting metric for amount of taxes a company owes to all taxing entities, domestic and foreign.

FORBES: The Appalling Nonsense Of America's 9% Corporate Income Tax Rate

Under current accounting rules most companies do not report the full costs of pension provision in their profit and loss account.

ECONOMIST: The companies with the biggest holes in their pension funds

Yet another Sarbox provision, absent vigorous SEC enforcement, may even be leading, perversely, to less disclosure of accounting problems.

FORBES: Is The SEC's Ponzi Crusade Enabling Companies To Cook The Books, Enron-Style?