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(MLive | File photo)

Ford Motor Co. said in a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission it will reduce its 2016 net income by $2 billion due to an accounting change.

This loss on its full-year net income is not "reflective of the underlying operating results of our automotive business," Ford reports in the statement. The automaker will now record pension loss annually, and as a special item rather than as an aspect of the automotive business.

The Dearborn-based automaker will adopt the mark-to-market accounting method. This new method means Ford will recognize "pension" and Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) "remeasurement gains and losses in income in the year incurred rather than amortizing them over many years."

Ford will announce its full 2016 results on Thursday, Jan. 26, and still expects to hit its guidance of $10.2 billion for the company's full-year pretax profits.

"The remeasurement loss is largely driven by lower discount rates compared with year-end 2015, offset partially by asset gains in excess of our assumptions," the statement reads. "Because the remeasurement loss is a special item, it will not impact our total Company adjusted pre-tax profit or adjusted earnings per share.

"The change to the underfunded status of our pension plans primarily reflects the effect of lower discount rates, particularly in Europe where our pension plans are less funded and de-risked compared with our pension plans in the United States, and the change to the underfunded status of our OPEB plans primarily reflects the effect of lower discount rates on our unfunded OPEB plans globally."

As of 5:28 p.m. Friday, Ford's stock has fallen 7 cents, or 0.56 percent to $12.36 a share.