For today’s blog entry, I have the results of the NASPP’s Quick Survey on ASC 718, presented in a nifty interactive infographic (place your cursor over a section of each chart to see its label). (Click here if you don’t see the graphic below.)
BTW—if you are one of the 83% of respondents that haven’t yet figured out the impact of the tax accounting changes to your earnings per share, see my blog entry “Run Your Own Numbers,” for easy-peasy instructions on how most companies can figure this out in just 5 minutes. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and value to your accounting/finance team.
It’s been a while since we’ve had major regulatory updates that impact stock compensation. Knowing that, I sometimes find myself scanning the horizon, looking for the next “thing” that’s going to have us examining our practices, changing procedures or implementing something new. This week my radar went into action when I heard that SEC Chair Mary Jo White had laid out quite a list of upcoming initiatives in a recent address.
Technology on the Brain
In spite of some significant cutbacks in technology dollars available to the SEC for long term initiatives, the SEC seems to still have advancement in this area on the brain. Chair White announced that the SEC has deployed a new analytical tool called “NEAT” (National Exam Analytics Tool) to help identify possible insider trading or other misconduct. This tool can identify red flags in a fraction of the time it took to do so in the past. I’m guessing this means that the wave of insider trading investigations and scrutiny is not over.
In the spring of 2013, the SEC issued guidance permitting issuers to use social media sites to communicate company announcements (see the NASPP Blog, May 16, 2013). White has now indicated that the SEC is broadly rethinking disclosure requirements for public companies and the role of technology in sharing information with investors. Last month the SEC recommended to Congress in a report (which was mandated by the JOBS Act) that the disclosure rules undergo comprehensive reexamination and reform. White shared some insight into the SEC’s thinking: “I believe we should rethink not only the type of information we ask companies to disclose, but also how that information is presented, where and how that information is disclosed, and how we can take advantage of technology to facilitate investors’ access to information and make it more meaningful to them.” Saying it and issuing a report doesn’t mean new rules are imminent, but it is perhaps a hint of things to come. It seems within the realm of possibility that this type of reform may be fairly significant if and when it happens.
New Investigation Focus
White says that as the SEC wraps up investigations stemming from the financial crisis, attention is now shifting to other areas of enforcement – namely financial reporting fraud and accounting irregularities amongst others. This is a good time to make sure our controls, checks and balances are operating full force. While we can’t control other areas of financial reporting beyond stock administration, we can ensure that the areas under our realm can stand up to the possibility of an intense audit or investigation. This seems particularly wise, since Chair White also said that “The coming year promises to be an incredibly active year in enforcement, as we continue to vigorously pursue wrongdoers and bring enforcement actions across the entire industry spectrum.”
It looks like the SEC continues on their roll of assertive enforcement actions and attempt to progress into more modern times. Let’s see what the horizon holds in that regard.
Is your calendar full for January yet? As we head into the new year, now is a good time to touch base with other departments that you work with throughout the year to review procedures and plan for the coming year. In today’s blog, I discuss a few of the groups you might want to meet with. Looks like it’s going to be a busy month…
Payroll
Schedule a meeting with payroll to kick off the start of the year. A few items for the meeting agenda include reviewing W-2 reporting procedures for various stock plan transactions (see our “Form W-2 Reporting Checklist” and “W-2 and 1099 Reporting for Equity Compensation – FAQs“); reviewing tax rate and limit changes for the upcoming year; and reviewing current procedures–what’s working and what isn’t working.
Accounts Payable
Forms 1099-MISC are typically prepared by accounts payable. If you grant equity to outside directors and other non-employees, it’s a good idea to meet with this group to ensure that any of their taxable stock plan transactions for the year will be reported appropriately. Ditto for any taxable transactions that occurred after the death of an employee or subsequent to the transfer of options/awards pursuant to divorce.
Accounting/Finance
For calendar year-end companies that haven’t done so since last year, now is a good time to review your valuation assumptions (volatility, dividend yield, interest rates, and expected life) for stock option grants. It’s also a good time to revisit the expected forfeiture rate applied to options and awards. Set up a meeting with accounting/finance to have a conversation about this. If you’ve had unusual transactions that occurred during the year (acceleration of vesting, changes in employee status, option exchange programs, other option/award modifications), it’s a good idea to review how these transactions are accounted for as well. You don’t want any surprises when your auditors review your financial reports.
Legal/Finance
You’ve probably already done this if your company has a calendar year-end, but if you haven’t, you’ll want to schedule a meeting with the folks responsible for preparing your company’s Form 10-K and proxy solicitation statements to ascertain what your contributions will need to be. Reviewing last year’s statements to remind yourself of the information included relating to stock compensation can be a good preparatory step for this meeting. It’s also a good idea to review the number of shares available in your stock plans, expected share usage for the next two years, and plan expiration dates, so you’ll know if a shareholder proposal relating to your stock plans is necessary.
HR
Review your current grant guidelines with HR to determine if any tweaking is necessary and to find out if HR has planned any changes to your equity programs for the next year.
Brokers
With cost-basis reporting going into effect for the first time with 2011 Forms 1099-B, you’ll want to meet with your brokers to find out what will be reported as the cost basis for stock issued under your stock plans and what information they will be providing your employees about the new reporting procedures. See my November 30, 2010 bog, “Four Questions to Ask Your Brokers.”
Section 6039 Service
If you plan to use an outside provider to prepare and/or file Section 6039 returns with the IRS and provide statements to employees, don’t wait any longer to get the conversations with your provider started. The deadline for employee statements is January 31!
International Advisors
If you offer stock compensation to non-US employees, it’s a good time to check in with your external advisors for international compliance to find out if any local requirements have changed and if there are any year-end reporting requirements you need to comply with outside of the United States. Where US employees have relocated to other countries, or foreign nationals have moved into the United States, also review the US tax reporting requirements with respect to these folks (even for foreign nationals that moved back out of the US by the end of the year).
NASPP “To Do” List We have so much going on here at the NASPP that it can be hard to keep track of it all, so I keep an ongoing “to do” list for you here in my blog.
I’m going to start this discussion from the end and start with the company’s tax deduction. Certain employee stock compensation transactions that result in taxable income (e.g., non-qualified stock option exercises and restricted stock vests) are eligible for a corresponding company tax deduction. For example, if an employee realizes $1,000 income on an NQSO exercise and the company’s applicable tax rate is 40%, the company is eligible for a tax deduction of $400.
However, under FAS123(R), a company can’t just wait for the transaction to take place and then book the entire tax deduction. Instead, it must try and anticipate what that tax benefit will be and book it over the same schedule as the expense accrual for the award. Because the company can’t know for sure what income will result from eligible transactions, FAS123(R) details how to go about anticipating that unknown with as a deferred tax asset (DTA).
Calculating DTA
DTA, unlike the actual tax deduction, is calculated based on the FAS123(R) valuation of the grant using the company’s current tax rate and is generally booked over the vesting schedule. For example, if the company is expensing $5,000 for an NQSO each year over a four-year vesting schedule and the company’s tax rate is 40%, the company books a DTA of $2,000 each year of the same schedule (adjusted for expected forfeitures until the actual vest date).
Back to the End
When a transaction does take place the company can calculate the actual tax deduction, which will most likely be either more or less than the DTA amount. The company reverses the DTA that was previously booked and takes the actual tax deduction. However, the difference between these two numbers must also be reconciled. If the DTA is less than the actual tax deduction (i.e., the company realized more than the anticipated tax benefit), the company adds the excess tax benefit to the paid in capital account–often referred to as the APIC pool. However, if the actual tax deduction turns out to be less than the booked DTA (i.e., the company anticipated more tax benefit than it realized), then the company reduces the existing APIC pool by the unrealized tax benefit amount–or takes a tax expense if the APIC pool isn’t sufficient.
Get More
This is, of course, just the beginning of tax accounting for equity compensation under FAS123(R)–or even just a full conversation on deferred tax assets. We have a wealth of information on the NASPP’s Stock Plan Expensing portal. We also have an in-depth webcast in the NASPP webcast archive, “Practical Guide to Tax Accounting Under FAS 123(R).” However, if you are looking for the total information package on financial reporting, including accounting for tax effects, I highly recommend the NASPP’s course, Financial Reporting for Equity Compensation. The first class is today at 12:00 PM PT, but if you miss it, don’t worry. Not only are there four more fact-filled sessions, you can catch up on the recording of today’s class and take advantage of all the bonus materials. Register now!