Stock Appreciation Rights

What are Stock Appreciation Rights?

A stock appreciation rights (SARs), similar to employee stock options, is a method for giving a bonus to the employees in the form of shares instead of cash, and they benefit from these SARs when the share price increases in the future.

What are the Elements of Stock Appreciation Rights?

There are some key dates and key terms which need to understand before going for SARs: –

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1. Grant Date: – This is a significant date, and all the process of stock appreciation rights will start only after this date. The grant date is the date when stock appreciation right is given to employees.
2. Exercise Price/Grant Price: – Exercise priceExercise PriceExercise price or strike price refers to the price at which the underlying stock is purchased or sold by the persons trading in the options of calls & puts available in the derivative trading. Thus, the exercise price is a term used in the derivative market.read more is the market price of the stock on the grant date. This price is used to determine the worth of stock.
3. Vesting Date: – This is the date when an employee can exercise his stock appreciation right.
4. Expiration Date: – This is the last day when the employee can exercise his option.

Example of Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs)

Now we will take one example for understanding these SARs:

ABC Inc has declared stock appreciation rights to his employees for which conditions are as below:

• Grant Date: 1^st Jan’2015
• Grant Price/Exercise Price: $ 100
• Number of Shares: 100
• Service Period: 3 Years
• Vesting Date: 1^st Jan’ 2018
• Expiry Date: 31^st Dec’2019

Lets us assume one of the employees exercises his right as on 1^st Jan’2018, and the market price of the share as on 1^st Jan’2018 is $ 200 it means he will earn $ 10000 against his right.

• (Market Price of share – Exercise Price) * No of Shares
• = ($ 200 – $ 100) *100
• = $ 10000

This $ 10000 he can get in the form of cash or in the form of a share. If the right is settled in the form of shares, then no. of shares will be calculated as per market price. which is as follows:

Net Money Value of Shares = $ 10000

Market Price of share = $ 200

• No. of share received = $ 10000/ $ 200
•  = 50 shares

Participants can exercise the rights at any time during the vesting period, i.e., between vesting date & expiry date, but the unexercised rights will be subject to fluctuation of the market price.

Process of Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme

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Advantages of Stock Appreciation Rights

Below are the advantages of SARs.

• It is a method to give incentives to the employees without giving up equity.
• It is a retention plan of the company so that employees can stay in an organization for a longer period of time.
• It has lesser compliance as compared to Employee stock option plans or employee stock purchase planEmployee Stock Purchase PlanEmployee Stock Purchase Plan is an option granted by the employer to the employees, wherein the employer (i.e. the company) allots a specific quantity of shares/stocks to each of the employees at a significantly discounted price as compared to the market price. Employees avail this option through periodical deduction from the date of grant of option till the date of exercise of the price required to be paid.read more.
• This scheme is more flexible as compared to other options.

Disadvantages of Stock Appreciation Rights

Below are the disadvantages of SARs.

• There is no cash infusion when an employee buys this option /stock.
• This option is required to approve by the board of directors and shareholders.
• Funds are required by the company to finance the SARs, which is being exercised by the employees, and this may lead to liquidity issuesLiquidity IssuesLiquidity shows the ease of converting the assets or the securities of the company into the cash. Liquidity is the ability of the firm to pay off the current liabilities with the current assets it possesses.read more in the company.

Conclusion

Stock appreciation right is part of compensation which is paid to the employee as an incentive or bonus on the basis of their performance during the service period, but the amount of this incentive will depend on the exercise of the rights by the employee because the incentive amount will be the difference between the market price on the exercise date and grant date.

In this option, an employee does not have to own the assets or contract but at the same time company has to arrange the fund for financing this stock appreciation rights but this is also beneficial for the employers because they do not have to issue any additional sharesIssue Any Additional SharesShares Issued refers to the number of shares distributed by a company to its shareholders, who range from the general public and insiders to institutional investors. They are recorded as owner's equity on the Company's balance sheet.read more which may change the share price.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Stock Appreciation Rights. Here we discuss elements, processes, and examples of Stock Appreciation Rights along with advantages and disadvantages. You can learn more about accounting from the following articles –

• When to Use Cost-Plus Contract?
• What is Loan Stock?
• Short Sale of Stocks Meaning
• What is Employee Stock Option Plan?
• Controlled Company