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Accounting for Stock Options

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  • Jeremy Bulow
  • John B. Shoven

Abstract

As public companies begin their new fiscal years, they are implementing a new and controversial Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB, 2004) proposal for expensing stock options. Applied to 2003 and 2004, this rule would have slashed reported earnings of the Standard & Poor's 500 by 8.6 and 7.4 percent; the effect in the bubble years would have been more than twice as large. We describe the history of how these options have been expensed for financial statement purposes. We assess the new FASB approach and find that it is deeply flawed. The main purpose of the paper is to describe an alternative options expense valuation method, the Bulow-Shoven approach, that addresses these problems. Our approach is simpler than the new FASB methodology, less prone to earnings manipulation and more consistent with the way the rest of compensation is treated in financial statements.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Bulow & John B. Shoven, 2005. "Accounting for Stock Options," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 115-134, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:19:y:2005:i:4:p:115-134
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/089533005775196714
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/089533005775196714
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cox, John C. & Ross, Stephen A. & Rubinstein, Mark, 1979. "Option pricing: A simplified approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 229-263, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chilosi, Alberto & Damiani, Mirella, 2007. "Stakeholders vs. shareholders in corporate governance," MPRA Paper 2334, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gianandrea Goisis, 2009. "Micro and macroeconomic effects of financial innovation in a domestic and international perspective," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 56(3), pages 205-214, September.
    3. Dahiya, Sandeep & Yermack, David, 2008. "You can't take it with you: Sunset provisions for equity compensation when managers retire, resign, or die," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 499-511, December.
    4. Jared Harris & Philip Bromiley, 2007. "Incentives to Cheat: The Influence of Executive Compensation and Firm Performance on Financial Misrepresentation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 350-367, June.

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