Using the COUNT built-in with local variable is misleading and in the most of time it is a coding error.

## Noncompliant Code Example

    DECLARE
      v_empno emp.empno%TYPE;
      ...
    BEGIN

      -- Because the v_empno is NULL at this point, this COUNT always returns 0.
      SELECT COUNT(v_empno)
        INTO i
        FROM employee
       WHERE employee.deptno = v_deptno;
    END;

## Compliant Solution

    BEGIN
      SELECT COUNT(*)
        INTO i
        FROM employee
       WHERE employee.deptno = v_deptno;
    END;