On January 1, 2018, Olympic Insurance Company granted 30,000 stock options to certain executives. The options are exercisable no sooner than December 31, 2020, and expire on January 1, 2021. Each option can be exercised to acquire one share of $1 par common stock for $12. An option- pricing model estimates the fair value of the options to be $5 on the date of grant. The market price of Olympic's stock was as follows: January 1, 2018 December 31, 2018 What amount should Olympic recognize as compensation expense for 2018?a) $10,000

b) $20,000

c) $30,000

d) $50,000

Option D. $50,000.    

Explanation:

We can solve it by two methods:

Method 1: Conceptually

The 30,000 stock options has vested period of 3 years, which means 10,000 stock options a year. Furthermore, according to accrual concept application in the employee benefits international standard on accounting, the increase in liability for compensating other party for its services is increase in expense. Here, increase in expense is the option fair value which is $5. So the Compensation expense is:

Compensation expense = $5 per stock option * 10,000 Stock Options per year

= $50,000 for the first year 2018

Method 2: Formula Method

As we know that:

Compensation expense for 2018 = Total compensation / Vested period

Here

Total compensation = $5 stock option * 30,000 options

Vested period is 3 years

By putting values, we have:

Compensation expense = (30,000 × $5)/3 years

Compensation expense = $50,000

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