Log out Go to App
Go to App

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 16: Q4CA (page 886)

CA16-4 WRITING (Stock Compensation Plans) The following two items appeared on the Internet concerning the GAAP requirement to expense stock options.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—February 17, 2005 Congressman David Dreier (R–CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D–CA) reintroduced legislation today that will preserve broad-based employee stock option plans and give investors critical information they need to understand how employee stock options impact the value of their shares.

“Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted for legislation that would have ensured the continued ability of innovative companies to offer stock options to rank-and-file employees,” Dreier stated. “Both the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continue to ignore our calls to address legitimate concerns about the impact of FASB’s new standard on workers’ ability to have an ownership stake in the New Economy, and its failure to address the real need of shareholders: accurate and meaningful information about a company’s use of stock options.”

In December 2004, FASB issued a stock option expensing standard that will render a huge blow to the 21st century economy,” Dreier said. “Their action and the SEC’s apparent lack of concern for protecting shareholders, requires us to once again take a firm stand on the side of investors and economic growth. Giving investors the ability to understand how stock options impact the value of their shares is critical. And equally important is preserving the ability of companies to use this innovative tool to attract talented employees.”

“Here We Go Again!” by Jack Ciesielski (2/21/2005, http://www.accountingobserver.com/blog/2005/02/here-we-go-again) On February 17, Congressman David Dreier (R–CA), and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D–CA), officially entered Silicon Valley’s bid to gum up the launch of honest reporting of stock option compensation: They co-sponsored a bill to “preserve broad-based employee stock option plans and give investors critical information they need to understand how employee stock options impact the value of their shares.” You know what “critical information” they mean: stuff like the stock compensation for the top five officers in a company, with a rigged value set as close to zero as possible. Investors crave this kind of information. Other ways the good Congresspersons want to “help” investors: The bill “also requires the SEC to study the effectiveness of those disclosures over three years, during which time, no new accounting standard related to the treatment of stock options could be recognized. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study and report to Congress on the impact of broad-based employee stock option plans on expanding employee corporate ownership, skilled worker recruitment and retention, research and innovation, economic growth, and international competitiveness.”

It’s the old “four corners” basketball strategy: stall, stall, stall. In the meantime, hope for regime change at your opponent, the FASB.

Instructions

(a) What are the major recommendations of the stock-based compensation pronouncement?

(b) How do the provisions of GAAP in this area differ from the bill introduced by members of Congress (Dreier and Eshoo), which would require expensing for options issued to only the top five officers in a company? Which approach do you think would result in more useful information? (Focus on comparability.)

(c) The bill in Congress urges the FASB to develop a rule that preserves “the ability of companies to use this innovative tool to attract talented employees.” Write a response to these Congress-people explaining the importance of neutrality in financial accounting and reporting.

Short Answer

Expert verified
  1. Stock-based compensation is reported as a general compensation expense.
  2. U.S. GAAP requiresto report all stock-based compensation as non-cash expenses under operating expenses.
  3. Neutrality ensures that the financial statement is free from biasness.

Step by step solution

01

Definition of Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation is the method of rewarding employees using shares and options rather than using cash. Such compensation is also reported in the financial statements of the business entity.

02

Recommendation for stock-based compensation pronouncement

The stock-based compensation must be accounted for as general compensation. It must be reflected in the financial statement of the business entity as the cost paid for employee services. All the shares of the stock-based compensation must be recognized at the fair value of the options. The option pricing model is used to determine the fair value of the government company’s option. After granting the option, no adjustment will be made to the share price.

The value of the award will be included as an expense in the financial statement of the period in which the employees provide the services. Such a period is considered as vesting period.

Business entities made adjustments for the options that employees did not vest.

03

Difference in the approaches to exercising the option

The bill introduced by the member of congress reflects that the company must record only those options provided to the top five executives of the company. Under U.S. GAAP, all stock-based compensation is reported as non-cash operating expenses.

Based on comparability, recording stock-based compensation for some shares only will not provide useful information to the users of the financial statement and analysts. It will become difficult for the analyst to compare the compensation cost of the companies where one is paying through the share option, and another is paying in cash.

04

Importance of neutrality in the financial statement

The financial statement users are best served when the financial statement is prepared using neutral accounting standards. It means that all accounting information must be true and fair. Neutrality is not concerned with influencing human behaviour. At the same time, neutrality means that accounting information of the business entity is free from biasness and reflects the true picture of the business entity. Neutrality is one of the characteristics of the international financial reporting standards.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

(Basic EPS: Two-Year Presentation) Melton Corporation is preparing the comparative financial statements for the annual report to its shareholders for fiscal years ended May 31, 2017, and May 31, 2018. The income from operations for thefiscal year ended May 31, 2017, was \(1,800,000 and income from continuing operations for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2018, was \)2,500,000. In both years, the company incurred a 10% interest expense on \(2,400,000 of debt, an obligation that requires interestonly payments for 5 years. The company experienced a loss from discontinued operations of \)600,000 on February 2018. The company uses a 40% effective tax rate for income taxes.

The capital structure of Melton Corporation on June 1, 2016, consisted of 1 million shares of common stock outstanding and 20,000 shares of \(50 par value, 6%, cumulative preferred stock. There were no preferred dividends in arrears, and the company had not issued any convertible securities, options, or warrants.

On October 1, 2016, Melton sold an additional 500,000 shares of the common stock at \)20 per share. Melton distributed a 20% stock dividend on the common shares outstanding on January 1, 2017. On December 1, 2017, Melton was able to sell an additional 800,000 shares of the common stock at $22 per share. These were the only common stock transactions that occurred during the two fiscal years.

Instructions

(a) Identify whether the capital structure at Melton Corporation is a simple or complex capital structure and explain why.

(b) Determine the weighted-average number of shares that Melton Corporation would use in calculating earnings per share for the fiscal year ended: (1) May 31, 2017. (2) May 31, 2018.

(c) Prepare, in good form, a comparative income statement, beginning with income from operations, for Melton Corportion for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2017, and May 31, 2018. This statement will be included in Melton’s annual report and should display the appropriate earnings per share presentations.

At December 31, 2017, Reid Company had 600,000 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, 400,000 of which had been issued and outstanding throughout the year and 200,000 of which were issued on October 1, 2017. Net income for 2017 was \(2,000,000, and dividends declared on preferred stock were \)400,000. Compute Reid’s earnings per common share. (Round to the nearest penny.)

GROUPWORK (Computation of Basic and Diluted EPS) Charles Austin of the controller’s office of Thompson

Corporation was given the assignment of determining the basic and diluted earnings per share values for the year ending

December 31, 2018. Austin has compiled the information listed below.

1. The company is authorized to issue 8,000,000 shares of \(10 par value common stock. As of December 31, 2017, 2,000,000

shares had been issued and were outstanding.

2. The per share market prices of the common stock on selected dates were as follows.

Price per Share

July 1, 2017 \)20.00

January 1, 2018 21.00

April 1, 2018 25.00

July 1, 2018 11.00

August 1, 2018 10.50

November 1, 2018 9.00

December 31, 2018 10.00

3. A total of 700,000 shares of an authorized 1,200,000 shares of convertible preferred stock had been issued on July 1, 2017.

The stock was issued at its par value of \(25, and it has a cumulative dividend of \)3 per share. The stock is convertible into

common stock at the rate of one share of convertible preferred for one share of common. The rate of conversion is to be

automatically adjusted for stock splits and stock dividends. Dividends are paid quarterly on September 30, December 31,

March 31, and June 30.

4. Thompson Corporation is subject to a 40% income tax rate.

5. The after-tax net income for the year ended December 31, 2018, was \(11,550,000.

The following specific activities took place during 2018.

1. January 1—A 5% common stock dividend was issued. The dividend had been declared on December 1, 2017, to all stockholders

of record on December 29, 2017.

2. April 1—A total of 400,000 shares of the \)3 convertible preferred stock was converted into common stock. The company

issued new common stock and retired the preferred stock. This was the only conversion of the preferred stock during 2018.

3. July 1—A 2-for-1 split of the common stock became effective on this date. The board of directors had authorized the split

on June 1.

4. August 1—A total of 300,000 shares of common stock were issued to acquire a factory building.

5. November 1—A total of 24,000 shares of common stock were purchased on the open market at \(9 per share. These shares

were to be held as treasury stock and were still in the treasury as of December 31, 2018.

6. Common stock cash dividends—Cash dividends to common stockholders were declared and paid as follows.

April 15—\)0.30 per share

October 15—$0.20 per share

7. Preferred stock cash dividends—Cash dividends to preferred stockholders were declared and paid as scheduled.

Instructions

(a) Determine the number of shares used to compute basic earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2018.

(b) Determine the number of shares used to compute diluted earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2018.

(c) Compute the adjusted net income to be used as the numerator in the basic earnings per share calculation for the year

ended December 31, 2018.

(Conversion of Bonds) The December 31, 2017, balance sheet of Kepler Corp. is as follows.10% callable, convertible bonds payable (semiannual interest dates April 30 and October 31; convertible into 6 shares of \(25 par value common stock per \)1,000 of bond principal; maturity date April 30, 2023) \(500,000Discount on bonds payable 10,240 \)489,760On March 5, 2018, Kepler Corp. called all of the bonds as of April 30 for the principal plus interest through April 30. By April 30, all bondholders had exercised their conversion to common stock as of the interest payment date. Consequently, on April 30, Kepler Corp. paid the semiannual interest and issued shares of common stock for the bonds. The discount is amortized on a straight-line basis. Kepler uses book value method.

Prepare the entry(the ies) to record the interest expense and conversion on April 30, 2018. Reversing entries were made on January 1, 2018. (Round to the nearest dollar.)

Ferraro, Inc. established a stock-appreciation rights (SARs) program on January 1, 2017, which entitles executives to receive cash at the date of exercise for the difference between the market price of the stock and the pre-established price of \(20 on 5,000 SARs. The required service period is 2 years. The fair value of the SARs are determined to be \)4 on December 31,2017, and $9 on December 31, 2018. Compute Ferraro’s compensation expense for 2017 and 2018.
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Business Studies Textbooks

Intermediate Accounting

Read Explanation

Business Operations

Read Explanation

Business Development

Read Explanation

Influences On Business

Read Explanation

Managerial Economics

Read Explanation

Change Management

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free