The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in
February issued International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 2,
Share-based Payment, on accounting for such transactions,
including grants of share options to employees (
www.iasb.org/news/press.asp ). Until the issuance of IFRS 2,
international accounting standards did not address the recognition or
measurement of options-based compensation expenses.
At press time, a spokesperson for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) said it would issue an exposure draft on this subject in late March and release final stock-based compensation guidance by the end of the year. She said FASB’s position is very similar on all key points to that of the IASB in requiring companies to use a fair-value approach to recognize the cost of employee stock options at grant date as an expense on their income statements.
