The NASPP Blog

Welcome to the NASPP Blog!  Look for Rachel Murillo, NASPP Editorial Director, and me to post here twice a week on all things related to stock compensation. We’ll be covering industry developments, common questions we hear from NASPP members, trends in practices and plan design, and NASPP announcements. 

Suddenly Last Summer

We generally think of summer as vacation time, but that wasn’t true for the regulators this year.  For my first blog, I thought I’d highlight some regulatory developments from the past few months that impact your stock plans:

• IFRS is Coming:  In late August, the SEC approved a proposed roadmap for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in the United States.  There are some significant differences in the treatment of stock compensation in IFRS, so this could have a big impact on your stock plans.  For more information, see our alert “Impact of IFRS on Stock Compensation in the United States.”
• Section 6039 Returns:  The IRS proposed regulations that would implement the requirement for companies to file returns (with the IRS) for ISO and ESPP transactions triggering Section 6039 statements.  See our alert “IRS Proposes New Regulations for Section 423 ESPPs“; don’t wait on this one–if you want to express your opinion to the IRS on the proposed regs, comments are due by October 15 .    
• More ESPP Regs:  The IRS also issued proposed regulations clarifying the application of Section 423.  Of particular note are proposed regulations on the $25,000 limitation, exclusion of highly compensated and non-US employees, determination of grant date, and the impact of violations.  See our alert “IRS Proposes New Regulations for Section 423 ESPPs.”
• Aggregate Reporting on Form 4:  The SEC issued welcome relief in the form of a no-action letter permitting shares sold in multiple lots to be reported as a single transaction on Form 4. See our alert “SEC Staff Reverses Itself and Allows Aggregate Reporting.”
• Dividends and EPS:  The FASB issued a Staff Position requiring companies that pay dividends on awards even if the awards do not vest to use the two-class method of reporting earnings-per-share.  See the KPMG alert “Applying the Two-Class EPS Method to Share-Based Payments.”

I will have more on these developments in upcoming blogs. 

NASPP Conference

You also can learn more about all of the above developments by attending the 16th Annual NASPP Conference, from October 21-24 in New Orleans.  Here are a few of the sessions that are on my short list of panels I don’t want to miss:

• The keynote session on “Having the Hard Conversation: Top Consultants and Directors Share Their Approaches”
• 30 Most Common (But Surprising) Compensation Disclosure Mistakes
• The Top Ten of Restricted Stock and Units
• IFRS and You:  How International Accounting Rules Impact Your Stock Plans
• Working With Your Internal and External Auditors
• The Roadmap:  How to Implement Net Exercises
• From the Top Down: Engaging Employees to Drive Business Performance
• The IRS and Treasury Speak:  The Hottest Tax Issues for Stock Compensation
• A “Sleeper” Development:  What You Need to Know Now About Escheat Compliance
• Six Essential Steps to Implementing Performance Metrics
• Equity Deferral Programs: Do They Still Make Sense
• Tackling Equity Compensation Issues Relate to Mergers and Acquisitions

Yes, I know I’ve listed more workshops than I can physically attend, but luckily we’re recording the entire Conference so I can listen to the recordings of the ones I miss (and so can you, just stop by the Conference registration desk to or visit Naspp.com after the Conference to order the audio)!

I hope you enjoy our blog and I look forward to seeing you all in New Orleans in two weeks!

– Barbara