The new compiler ignores the INITIAL attribute for AREAs, and you should convert any INITIAL clauses for AREAs into assignment statements.
For example, in the following code fragment, the elements of the array are not initialized to a1, a2, a3, and a4:
dcl (a1,a2,a3,a4) area;
dcl a(4) area init( a1, a2, a3, a4 );
However, you can rewrite the code as follows so that the array is initialized as desired:
dcl (a1,a2,a3,a4) area;
dcl a(4) area;
a(1) = a1;
a(2) = a2;
a(3) = a3;
a(4) = a4;
The compiler will flag any declare of AREA with INITIAL with message IBM1196.