The separation of extraordinary items from other items on the income statement does not result in a separation of recurring from nonrecurring items. An item that is infrequent but not unusual is classified as nonoperating income in the other gains and losses section of the income statement. Research has indicated that this requirement is not consistent with the FASB’s predictive ability criterion. Classifying nonrecurring items tends to increase the variability of earnings per share before extraordinary items and to decrease the predictive ability of earnings. If this evidence is proven correct, the FASB should consider revising income statement reporting practices so that they provide increased predictive ability when nonrecurring items are in evidence. One possible method of achieving this result might be to require footnote disclosure of the effect of nonrecurring items on income and earnings per share. Neither Hershey Company nor Tootsie Roll reported ant extraordinary items for the three fiscal years covered by their income statements.