Royal Dutch/Shell Group has been forced to cut $4.9 billion from its retained earnings for 2004 as a result of adopting new account standards.
The net assets sum will also decrease by $4.7 billion to $71.5 billion due to pension changes after adopting new International Financial Reporting Standards.
The company insisted that its underlying financial position remained untouched by the moves.
"This is a technical accounting adjustment and has no impact on company strategy or cashflow," said a spokesman for Shell.
Spokesman admitted that the debt figure would rise by $200 million and the 2004 annual figure for net income would fall by $100m when the results were reported under IFRS, as opposed to the American and Dutch Generally Accepted Accounting Principles which are used now.
