Company share options schemes have been the source of much debateover recent years. Critics have seen them as a significantcomponent of the excessive compensation, and the “fat cat” rewards,received by senior executives. They further link this to thewidening gap between the compensation awarded to senior executivesand that received by other employees. Advocates of the use ofexecutive and employee share options point out that they: * Help to align the interests of executives and employees withthose of shareholders? * Increase productivity * Encourage entrepreneurship * Provide a means of attracting key staff * Conserve the scarce cash resources of growth businesses Increasingly, company share option schemes are becoming anindispensable feature of the compensation of both executives andemployees, particularly in high technology growth businesses. Theiruse is promoted by governments, who view them as encouragingentrepreneurship, facilitating employee share ownership, andassisting in the creation of a stakeholder economy. This bookexamines all aspects of the use of company share options andprovides an essential grounding in this vital topic.
Book Details:
- Author: Peter Casson
- ISBN: 9780471966593
- Year Published: 2000
- Pages: 234
- BISAC: BUS036000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Investments & Securities / General
About the Book and Topic:
Company share options schemes have been the source of much debateover recent years. Critics have seen them as a significantcomponent of the excessive compensation, and the “fat cat” rewards,received by senior executives. They further link this to thewidening gap between the compensation awarded to senior executivesand that received by other employees. Advocates of the use ofexecutive and employee share options point out that they: * Help to align the interests of executives and employees withthose of shareholders? * Increase productivity * Encourage entrepreneurship * Provide a means of attracting key staff * Conserve the scarce cash resources of growth businesses Increasingly, company share option schemes are becoming anindispensable feature of the compensation of both executives andemployees, particularly in high technology growth businesses. Theiruse is promoted by governments, who view them as encouragingentrepreneurship, facilitating employee share ownership, andassisting in the creation of a stakeholder economy. This bookexamines all aspects of the use of company share options andprovides an essential grounding in this vital topic.
As Britain moves towards the much heralded ‘shareholder’ society, the way in which company shares are used as an incentive, or as a bonus supplement to employees, is becoming an increasingly important issue. The Greenbury Report and criticism of the ‘Fat Cats’ heading Britain’s nationalised industries will ensure that this topic remains very much in the public eye.
In addition to analyzing the British situation, Company ShareOptions discusses the valuation of share options, outlining thecharacteristics of some of the models that have been developed andcompares the accounting methods for share options in the UnitedStates and Britain. * Topics include: agency problems and ESOs; taxation and ESOs;institutional constraints; valuing and accounting for ESOs.
About the Author
PETER CASSON is Senior Lecturer in the School of Management and Organizational Psychology at Birbeck College, University of London. He is a chartered accountant and holds a PhD in psychology and an MSc in occupational psychology. Previous posts include a lectureship at the University of Southampton and a number of research positions in psychology. His research interests include accounting for financial instruments, corporate governance, company taxation and financial regulation.