Blog

Employee share purchase plans (ESPPs) are trending as an important tool for broad-based equity compensation. We share the top insights and trends we’ve gathered from conversations with issuing companies and industry friends over the last year.

The 2017 WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference brought together compensation leaders and experts for three days of discussions and workshops in Washington, D.C. Here, we summarize the key takeaways from sessions that covered hybrid performance awards, ESPPs, CEO pay ratio, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.

Ongoing uncertainty remains as to how proxy advisors favor (or don’t favor) relative TSR awards. We recently collaborated with ISS to discuss the roles that TSR metrics have in long-term incentive pay. Read our top ten takeaways.

On February 6, the SEC reopened the CEO pay ratio rule for a second comment cycle. The new comment period was open for 45 days, and the results were quite different from what most expected. We reviewed each comment letter and summarize the main trends here.

Now that most companies have adopted ASU 2016-09, its practical implications are quickly coming to light. Top among these is the P&L volatility companies are experiencing. For many, the earnings volatility is positive, but don’t forget that what goes up usually comes down. Get our CEO’s take on ASU 2016-09’s surprises.

The Appraisal Foundation has developed an exposure draft on the valuation of contingent consideration. The group released the draft on February 28, and is gathering comments until April 28. Here’s the comment from Equity Methods.

There may be uncertainty around the fate of Dodd-Frank. But absent formal intervention, the go-live date for the wildly controversial CEO pay ratio disclosure remains less than one year away.

From stark changes in ISS’ scoring approach to more scrutiny around performance goal-setting, in this blog post we tour important developments that will change how awards are designed and explained in the proxy.

Two years ago, we launched our stock-based compensation accounting best practices survey to find out what best-in-class accounting and finance groups were doing differently. Now, the survey is back and we need your input.

This blog post details how different award designs can result in unexpected costs, and what can be done during the annual grant process to minimize risk.