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Chapter 3 — Recognition

3.7 Multiple Conditions for Employee Awards

3.7 Multiple Conditions for Employee Awards

ASC 718-10
Market, Performance, and Service Conditions
25-20 Accruals of compensation cost for an award with a performance condition shall be based on the probable outcome of that performance condition — compensation cost shall be accrued if it is probable that the performance condition will be achieved and shall not be accrued if it is not probable that the performance condition will be achieved. If an award has multiple performance conditions (for example, if the number of options or shares a grantee earns varies depending on which, if any, of two or more performance conditions is satisfied), compensation cost shall be accrued if it is probable that a performance condition will be satisfied. In making that assessment, it may be necessary to take into account the interrelationship of those performance conditions. Example 2 (see paragraph 718-20-55-35) provides an illustration of how to account for awards with multiple performance conditions.
25-21 If an award requires satisfaction of one or more market, performance, or service conditions (or any combination thereof), compensation cost shall be recognized if the good is delivered or the service is rendered, and no compensation cost shall be recognized if the good is not delivered or the service is not rendered. Paragraphs 718-10-55-60 through 55-63 provide guidance on applying this provision to awards with market, performance, or service conditions (or any combination thereof).
Performance or Service Conditions
30-12 Awards of share-based compensation ordinarily specify a performance condition or a service condition (or both) that must be satisfied for a grantee to earn the right to benefit from the award. No compensation cost is recognized for instruments forfeited because a service condition or a performance condition is not satisfied (for example, instruments for which the good is not delivered or the service is not rendered). Examples 1 through 2 (see paragraphs 718-20-55-4 through 55-40) and Example 1 (see paragraph 718-30-55-1) provide illustrations of how compensation cost is recognized for awards with service and performance conditions.
Market, Performance, and Service Conditions That Affect Vesting and Exercisability
55-61 Analysis of the market, performance, or service conditions (or any combination thereof) that are explicit or implicit in the terms of an award is required to determine the employee’s requisite service period or the nonemployee’s vesting period over which compensation cost is recognized and whether recognized compensation cost may be reversed if an award fails to vest or become exercisable (see paragraph 718-10-30-27). If exercisability or the ability to retain the award (for example, an award of equity shares may contain a market condition that affects the grantee’s ability to retain those shares) is based solely on one or more market conditions compensation cost for that award is recognized if the grantee delivers the promised good or renders the service, even if the market condition is not satisfied. If exercisability (or the ability to retain the award) is based solely on one or more market conditions, compensation cost for that award is reversed if the grantee does not deliver the promised good or render the service, unless the market condition is satisfied prior to the end of the employee’s requisite service period or the nonemployee’s vesting period, in which case any unrecognized compensation cost would be recognized at the time the market condition is satisfied. If vesting is based solely on one or more performance or service conditions, any previously recognized compensation cost is reversed if the award does not vest (that is, the good is not delivered or the service is not rendered or the performance condition is not achieved). Examples 1 through 4 (see paragraphs 718-20-55-4 through 55-50) provide illustrations of awards in which vesting is based solely on performance or service conditions.
55-61A An employee award containing one or more market conditions may have an explicit, implicit, or derived service period. Paragraphs 718-10-55-69 through 55-79 provide guidance on explicit, implicit, and derived service periods.
55-62 Vesting or exercisability may be conditional on satisfying two or more types of conditions (for example, vesting and exercisability occur upon satisfying both a market and a performance or service condition). Vesting also may be conditional on satisfying one of two or more types of conditions (for example, vesting and exercisability occur upon satisfying either a market condition or a performance or service condition). Regardless of the nature and number of conditions that must be satisfied, the existence of a market condition requires recognition of compensation cost if the good is delivered or the service is rendered, even if the market condition is never satisfied.
55-63 Even if only one of two or more conditions must be satisfied and a market condition is present in the terms of the award, then compensation cost is recognized if the good is delivered or the service is rendered, regardless of whether the market, performance, or service condition is satisfied (see Example 5 [paragraph 718-10-55-100] for an example of such an employee award).
55-66 The following flowchart provides guidance on determining how to account for an award based on the existence of market, performance, or service conditions (or any combination thereof).
Accounting for Awards With Market, Performance, or Service Conditions
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(a) The award shall be classified and accounted for as equity. Market conditions are included in the grant-date fair value estimate of the award.
(b) Performance and service conditions that affect vesting are not included in estimating the grant-date fair value of the award. Performance and service conditions that affect the exercise price, contractual term, conversion ratio, or other pertinent factors affecting the fair value of an award are included in estimating the grant-date fair value of the award.
55-72 An award with a combination of market, performance, or service conditions may contain multiple explicit, implicit, or derived service periods. For such an award, the estimate of the requisite service period shall be based on an analysis of all of the following:
  1. All vesting and exercisability conditions
  2. All explicit, implicit, and derived service periods
  3. The probability that performance or service conditions will be satisfied.
55-73 Thus, if vesting (or exercisability) of an award is based on satisfying both a market condition and a performance or service condition and it is probable that the performance or service condition will be satisfied, the initial estimate of the requisite service period generally is the longest of the explicit, implicit, or derived service periods. If vesting (or exercisability) of an award is based on satisfying either a market condition or a performance or service condition and it is probable that the performance or service condition will be satisfied, the initial estimate of the requisite service period generally is the shortest of the explicit, implicit, or derived service periods.
55-74 For example, a share option might specify that vesting occurs after three years of continuous employee service or when the employee completes a specified project. The employer estimates that it is probable that the project will be completed within 18 months. The employer also believes it is probable that the service condition will be satisfied. Thus, that award contains an explicit service period of 3 years related to the service condition and an implicit service period of 18 months related to the performance condition. Because it is considered probable that both the performance condition and the service condition will be achieved, the requisite service period over which compensation cost is recognized is 18 months, which is the shorter of the explicit and implicit service periods.
55-75 As illustrated in the preceding paragraph, if an award vests upon the earlier of the satisfaction of a service condition (for example, four years of service) or the satisfaction of one or more performance conditions, it will be necessary to estimate when, if at all, the performance conditions are probable of achievement. For example, if initially the four-year service condition is probable of achievement and no performance condition is probable of achievement, the requisite service period is four years. If one year into the four-year requisite service period a performance condition becomes probable of achievement by the end of the second year, the requisite service period would be revised to two years for attribution of compensation cost (at that point in time, there would be only one year of the two-year requisite service period remaining).
55-76 If an award vests upon the satisfaction of both a service condition and the satisfaction of one or more performance conditions, the entity also must initially determine which outcomes are probable of achievement. For example, an award contains a four-year service condition and two performance conditions, all of which need to be satisfied. If initially the four-year service condition is probable of achievement and no performance condition is probable of achievement, then no compensation cost would be recognized unless the two performance conditions and the service condition subsequently become probable of achievement. If both performance conditions become probable of achievement one year after the grant date and the entity estimates that both performance conditions will be achieved by the end of the second year, the requisite service period would be four years as that is the longest period of both the explicit service period and the implicit service periods. Because the performance conditions are now probable of achievement, compensation cost will be recognized in the period of the change in estimate (see paragraph 718-10-35-3) as the cumulative effect on current and prior periods of the change in the estimated number of awards for which the requisite service is expected to be rendered. Therefore, compensation cost for the first year will be recognized immediately at the time of the change in estimate for the awards for which the requisite service is expected to be rendered. The remaining unrecognized compensation cost for those awards would be recognized prospectively over the remaining requisite service period. An entity that has an accounting policy to account for forfeitures when they occur in accordance with paragraph 718-10-35-3 would assume that the achievement of a service condition is probable when determining the amount of compensation cost to recognize unless the award has been forfeited.