ESPP Essentials: The Basics and Beyond of Plan Design, Implementation, and Accounting

10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) are a popular piece of the total rewards puzzle—cost effective, and with a high upside for employees. Yet they’re all too easy to misunderstand. This creates risk in the form of suboptimal plan design, risky or incorrect accounting processes, and low employee participation.

We’ll explain what it takes to design, implement, and account for an ESPP, starting with the basics of mainstream plan designs, and reviewing how they work from both the participant and accounting perspectives. Then, we’ll discuss richer plan features and special circumstances, highlighting the upsides as well as challenges that different plan designs can bring. We’ll cover: 

• Different ways to design a plan to meet your company’s needs 
• Trends in ESPP design and how they help you stay ahead in the war for talent 
• Communications and tactics that maximize engagement and participation 
• Best practices in modeling design alternatives and data-driven decision-making 
• Managing the specialized financial reporting requirements for ESPPs 
• The forecasting, tax, and dilution implications of complex plan structures 

If you’re a compensation professional looking to differentiate or keep up in the market with a new plan, a private company building your ownership culture as you head toward IPO, or an accounting professional aiming to streamline your processes or better understand a nuanced accounting area, this session is for you.

CPE Credits: 1.0 (available to live webcast attendees)
Field of Study: Specialized Knowledge
Program Level: Overview
Additional CPE details