August 5, 2009
Volume 2, No.8
In this Issue:
Webinar on August 26th: The Time Has Come for ESPP
SOS Focus: Best Practices for Stock Plan Vendor Analysis
Product Spotlight: Email Xpress
Subscribe to Xtra!
Our Services:
Contact Us: 888-SOS-0199
Ideas or Questions:
Do you have ideas for our next newsletter or webinar? Topics you're dying to see addressed but haven't yet? Please send us an e-mail with your ideas to: xtra@sos-team.com.
SOS Xtra's First Birthday
One year ago tomorrow we released the inaugural edition of SOS Xtra, so we thought we'd share a few fun Xtra facts for the First Birthday Edition of Xtra.Over the last year we've sent out nearly 76,000 copies of Xtra. SOS Xposé, our most popular column, has featured over 100 pieces of industry, player, and people gossip and you have followed links from the gossip section more often than links from any other section of Xtra! Xtra has featured articles on international issues, accounting topics, personal profiles, industry surveys, and industry events.
A few of the nice comments we've gotten about Xtra over the last year include:
- SOS has done a great job with SOS Xtra. I have read every email (including all articles) and have forwarded some of them on to internal staff.... The information is current and very helpful.
- That was an excellent article on the option exchange. I wish I would have had it about 2 years ago when I had to expense a similar situation. ...I like the publication and have added it to my desktop so I don't lose it.
- I really depend on the newsletter to keep me current.
- I like receiving your publication. It's great to have another source of information as it seems like things are always changing!
Sean Lembree
President & CEO
Stock & Option Solutions
Free Webcast:
The Time Has Come for ESPP!
August 26th
Please join us for our next free webinar on Wednesday, August 26th at 11am Pacific Time.
Description
(One hour of Certified Equity Professional continuing education credit is available for attending. See the CEPI website for more information on CEP continuing education requirements.)
For more information, please feel free to contact us at xtra@sos-team.com.
For more information, please feel free to contact us at xtra@sos-team.com.
If your ability to motivate employees through equity vehicles is being challenged by the volatile market, it's time to re-examine one of the most valuable tools in your compensation toolbox: the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)!
A well-designed and properly managed ESPP can provide a wide range of benefits: it produces revenue and tax offsets for your company, encourages savings for your employees, aligns shareholder and employee interests, and never goes
underwater. And considering the accounting cost of offering employee equity, ESPP shares may offer a greater value share-for-share than other types of programs.
This panel of experts will provide a high-level overview of the various types of ESPP (including non-qualified plans), the many different ESPP features available,
the accounting consequences of those features, a case study of a recently implemented non-qualified ESPP and pointers for best practices in administration that
can ease compliance and promote employee participation. They will also review survey results about ESPPs from two recent industry surveys. Even if you already have
an ESPP plan, you won't want to miss this informative panel session.
Speakers:
SOS Focus: Best Practices for Vendor Analysis
Does your vendor make the grade?
Working well with your product and service providers is a key component of a successful equity
compensation program. Whether you utilize third-party vendors to support recordkeeping systems,
outsourcing, brokerage, or other advisory services, you depend on them to supply critical assistance to
keep the administration of your stock plans humming, your financial reporting and compliance
accurate, and your employee participants happy. When one of these relationships doesn't work as
expected, this may present an opportunity to evaluate your current provider's product offerings and
performance and determine if a replacement is needed.
Can you improve your current vendor relationship?
Before you decide to change vendors, take a look at whether your current relationship can be saved to
avoid the cost of a transition and disruption to your infrastructure, administrative team, and plan
participants. If you haven't met with your vendor in awhile, this provides an excellent opportunity for
your provider to learn how your needs have evolved and for you to understand how the provider's
services have changed. This is also a great way to offer feedback to your vendor to help improve their
service.
See the SOS Library for the complete article...
Market Research Survey: Section 6039 & Diluted EPS
Periodically, SOS will ask for issuing companies' participation in a market research survey to enhance our understanding of current practices and trends
in the industry and to provide our clients insight into the practices of other issuing firms. Our surveys are brief, taking no more than 5 to 10 minutes
to complete. Complete the survey today!
Please note that only issuing companies, not vendors or consultants, should complete the survey. Thank you for your cooperation!
Product Spotlight: SOS Email Xpress
Are you still wasting time and money mailing or otherwise delivering paper statements for transactions and year-end summaries or statements?
Are employee stock purchases, RSU vestings, and year-ends a nightmare because of the mountains of paper?
SOS Email Xpress can retrieve data from your stock plan administration system and send customized e-mails to hundreds
SOS Email Xpress Features:
SOS Email Xpress Benefits:
SOS Xposé
...tender
tidbits about people and players in our industry...
Congrats!...
SOS would like to congratulate the 54 hard-working individuals who passed Level 3 of the CEP Exam this June! Our own Cassandra Martin was among them! Events!...
John Hammond of Transcentive and Angela Hammond, of Bank of America, are expecting an addition
to the family on January 25th...
Arne Peder Blix of Norse Solutions became a father for the first time to little Conrad (
9lbs 10oz) on Friday the 19th of June...
Gary Hamilton, of My Equity Comp, got engaged to Kathryn Emory on the 4th of July.
No date has been set yet but the happy couple is looking to tie the knot sooner rather than later...
Wendy Davis, of Cooley Godward, has let us know that her new daughter Avery joined the family on June 25,
weighing in at nearly twice what one of her older twin brothers weighed in at. We're told that she's healthy and the aforementioned brothers adore their
little sister...
Michelle May, of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, gave birth to Logan Michael on January 2...
Nicole Bonsness of Broadcom is expecting her first child in mid-November, so will be unlikely to attend the NASPP National Conference this year...
Shannon O'Neal, of Eclipsys, tied the knot to Joe Gross on June 26th...
Dan Walter and his wife Melanie Jameson, both of Performensation, are very excited to be
adopting a twin boy and girl due on November 14th...
On the Move!...
Kim Herzog and Dave Burr joined E*TRADE Corporate Services in early July. Kim will be leading
new client implementation efforts on the Client Services Team. Prior to joining E*TRADE, Kim held Implementation Management and Leadership roles at
Xerox, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, and most recently at American Express. Dave Burr will be heading up the Consulting Business and brings a wealth of
consulting experience from Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
Ron Snitker, of UBS CEFS, recently relocated from Tennessee to San
Francisco. Welcome to the Left Coast, Ron!
Players...
The Certified Equity Professional Institute: is accepting applications
for the Marilyn Perkins Scholarship until August 15th; has registration open
for the CEP Symposium on December 8th; and reminds us that registration
is open for the November 7th exam until September 25th.
Radford Consulting has released a new white paper: Underwater
Stock Option Exchanges: Is Your Company a Good Candidate? This white paper analyzes the underlying circumstances
that make a company a candidate for an underwater stock option exchange program. It explores the various criteria in depth, offers an example of an
appropriate candidate, and provides additional Radford commentary.
Charles Schwab has introduced a
new
Co-Sourced Stock Plan Administration offer for corporate stock plan administrators seeking to outsource specific functions to improve efficiency while maintaining control of their company's stock plan administration.