Explain the accounting requirements for stock compensation plans under GAAP.
Answer:
Under US GAAP, stock based compensation (SBC) is recognized as a non-cash expense on the income statement. Specifically, SBC expense is an operating expense (just like wages) and is allocated to the relevant operating line items:
The consolidated income statement will often not explicitly identify SBC on the income statement, but it's there, inside the expense categories. In fact, footnotes in financial filings will often detail the allocation by expense category.
Stock based compensation journal entries
There are two prevailing forms of stock based compensation: Restricted stock and stock options. GAAP accounting is slightly different for both. We'll start with an example with restricted stock and then proceed to stock options.
Restricted stock example
The journal entries are as follows:
January 1, 2018 - The grant date
Debits | Credits | |
Contra-equity - Unearned (deferred) Compensation 1 | $9.0 million | |
Common Stock & APIC – Common Stock2 |
$9.0 million |
1The unearned compensation account is simply a
contra-equity account to make the balance sheet balance. It will be
reduced as the employees earn their awards.
2Calculated as [300,000 shares * $10 per share].
First, notice that nothing really happened. An equity account was created and was exactly offset by a contra-equity account. Also notice that there is no income statement impact and no stock based compensation expense has been recognized yet. It will only be recognized once it's earned (i.e. vested). Also notice that the value of each share of restricted stock recognized by Jones Motors on its balance sheet is equal to its current share price. That's not the case with stock options as we'll see shortly.
January 1, 2019 - After one year
Debits | Credits | |
Retained earnings - SBC expense | $3.0 million | |
Contra-equity - Unearned (deferred) Compensation |
$3.0 million |
The same thing will happen on January 1, 2020 and again one final time on January 1, 2021.
So that's the basic accounting for restricted stock under GAAP. The key takeaways are:
Once the restricted stock is vested, the employees that own them can trade them and do whatever they want with them. However, if an employee leaves prior to vesting, the stock based compensation expense is reversed via the income statement. In our example, had the employees left after 1 year, the restricted stock would be forfeited and the following journal entries would need to be made:
January 1, 2019 - Employees forfeit their restricted stock
Debits | Credits | |
Contra-equity - Unearned (deferred) Compensation 1 | $3.0 million | |
Retained earnings - SBC expense |
$3.0 million |
We now turn to the accounting and journal entries for stock options, which are a bit more complicated.
Stock options example
The journal entries are as follows:
January 1, 2018 - The grant date
Nothing happens at the grant date. Unlike restricted stock, there are no offsetting journal entries to equity at the grant date. The stock options do not impact the common stock and APIC balance at the grant date.
January 1, 2019 - After a year of vesting
Debits | Credits | |
Retained Earnings - SBC Expense1 | $1.5 million | |
APIC – Stock Options2 |
$1.5 million |
1Calculated as 300,000 shares * $5 per share. This is
an expense recognized on the income statement. It reduces retained
earnings.
2To balance the balance sheet, APIC for stock options
increases
The same thing will happen on January 1, 2020 and again one final time on January 1, 2021. Now unlike restricted stock, once stock options vest, they still need to be exercised in order to become shares. So assume the following:
January 2, 2021 - Upon the exercise of options
Debits | Credits | |
Asset (Cash) – Option Proceeds1 | $9.0 million | |
APIC – Stock Options2 | $4.5 million | |
Common Stock & APIC – Common Stock |
$13.5 million |
1Calculated as 900,000 shares * $10 per share.
2Calculated as 900,000 shares * $5 per share. As options
are exercised and become common stock, the APIC - Stock Options
account is reversed and transferred into this Common Stock &
APIC - Common Stock account below.
Notice that the net increase to equity on the balance sheet at the exercise date is simply the amount of option proceeds. When building financial statement models, the fact that there is actually a transfer from the APIC - Stock Options account to the Common Stock & APIC - Common Stock account is ignored and only the net effect is modeled. Notice also that the market price of Jones Motors stock price is irrelevant in the journal entries.
Explain the accounting requirements for stock compensation plans under GAAP.
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