Accounting for Stock (or Share) Based Compensation

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  • A frequent component of corporate executive compensation is stock or share based.
  • Stock based compensation can take the form of: stock grants, stock options, stock appreciation rights (SARs), or phantom stock.
  • GAAP and IFRS require that share-based compensation is expensed on the basis of fair value.
  • Stock Grants: the employing company gives shares to employees.

Stock Grant Expense = the fair value of the stock on the grant date recognized over period in which the company benefitted from the employee’s service.

  • Stock Options: this form of compensation gives the employee the right to by a specific numbers of shares, at a specific exercise price, within an established period of time.

  • GAAP and IFRS require companies to use the fair value method to account for stock options.

  • The compensation cost is measured on the on the date the options are awarded, based on market prices or by using an options valuation model such as Black-Scholes or the binomial model.

  • The compensation cost is allocated to the service period and this is typically the timeframe between the grant date and the date when the employee can exercise the options (the vesting date).

Management Assumptions and Stock Option Compensation Accounting

  • When a company compensates with stock options, certain valuation assumptions must be employed in order to account for the compensation expense.

  • Assumptions that must be made include: stock price volatility, the expected risk free interest rate, and future dividend payments.

  • Even small changes to the values of these assumptions can have significant impact on the value of the options (and consider that a company may issue hundreds of thousands to executives).

  • Both stock option and defined benefit retiree compensation plans bring subjective elements into the financial reporting process.  A well-trained financial analyst will understand how to spot, interpret, and adjust for management accounting choices in order to derive the true economic picture.

01
CFA Level 2: Financial Reporting Part 2 – Introduction
02
Intercorporate Investments Accounting - Ownership Categories
03
Minority Passive Investments – Accounting Classes
04
Minority Active Investments and the Equity Method for Financial Reporting
05
Joint Venture Investments
06
Controlling Interest Investments: Accounting for Business Combinations
07
Purchase Method of Accounting for Controlling Interest Investments or Acquisitions
08
Pooling of Interests Method to Account for Controlling Interest Investments
09
Purchase Method vs. Pooling of Interest Method
10
Acquisition Method to Account for Controlling Interest Investments
11
GAAP Purchase Method, IFRS Purchase Method, and GAAP Acquisition Method Accounting
12
Variable Interest Entities (VIEs) and Special Purpose Entities (SPEs)
13
Defined Benefits Plans vs. Defined Contribution Plans
14
Measuring the Defined Benefit Obligation
15
Pension Expense (both GAAP & IFRS) for the Income Statement
16
Defined Benefit Plans & the Company Balance Sheet
17
The Role of Actuarial Assumptions in DB Plan Accounting
18
Economic Pension Expense
19
Pensions and the Statement of Cash Flows
20
Accounting for Stock (or Share) Based Compensation
21
Financial Statement Consolidation of Multinational Operations
22
Consolidation: Presentation Currency vs. Functional Currency vs. Local Currency
23
Foreign Currency Translation
24
Temporal Method for Translation of Foreign Statements
25
Current Rate Method for Translation of Foreign Statements
26
Consolidating Financial Statements: Determining the Functional Currency
27
Translation Methods and Financial Statement Effects
28
Accounting for Subsidiaries in Hyperinflationary Economies
29
CFA Level 2: Financial Reporting 2 - Recommendations
30
MBS Weighted Average Life