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Apostolou Crumbley 2005 Cpa Journal

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Accounting for Stock Options

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Accounting for Stock Options
Update on the Continuing Conflict By Nicholas G. Apostolou and D. Larry Crumbley AUGUST 2005 - In December 2004, a decade after bending to Congressional pressure and backing away from requiring the expensing of options on financial statements, FASB issued a revised standard to recognize stock-option compensation as an expense on income statements. Many in Congress may try to thwart the proposal before it becomes effective. A bill by Representative Richard Baker of Louisiana that would require expensing the cost of stock options for only the top five executives of a company has drawn the support of those groups still resolutely opposed to expensing. This time, however, FASB is likely to prevail. Investors are demanding tougher accounting standards, and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has already passed rules requiring the expensing of options. Many large U.S. corporations have already voluntarily agreed to expense options. Finally, there is more concern about, and less support for, Congressional interference in FASB’s standards-setting process. History of the Debate Accounting for stock options has been one of the most controversial topics in accounting during the last decade. The principal debate is whether compensation expense should be recognized for stock options and, if so, the periods over which it should be allocated. Before 1995, the provisions of Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion 25, issued in 1972, determined accounting for stock options. APB Opinion 25 measured stock options using the intrinsic value method, whereby compensation expense was determined as the excess of the stock price at the measurement date (generally, the grant date) over the option exercise price. Because most stock options had exercise

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