The ACUCOBOL compiler incorrectly allows RECORD IS 80 CHARACTERS as an equivalent of RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS. In Visual COBOL, you must correct the syntax. The RECORD clause can be either RECORD CONTAINS … or RECORD IS VARYING ….
This message is only produced when compiling with one of the ACUCOBOL dialect Compiler directives. Otherwise, COBCH0083 "Reserved word missing - VARYING expected." is produced instead.