China has discovered what we already knew -- employee ownership is a well-proven motivator in attracting the brightest talent and getting the best business results.
Culture of ownership.
Broad-based employee stock option plans -- offering options to many employees rather than a few -- foster the culture of ownership and associated behavior in which innovation and risk-taking -- two fundamentals of economic growth -- thrive. The drive that ownership creates is not only the heart of the American dream; it is key to the innovation and competitiveness on which our country's economy is built.
It is important to analyze what proponents are trying to fix by expensing stock options. This is presented as a tool to prevent corporate corruption through misuse of stock option plans. But FASB's solution to expense all employee stock options would be the worst of mistakes, turning a powerful motivator for innovation -- broad-based employee stock option plans -- into a symbol of broken corporate governance policies.
The inaccurate numbers which FASB's proposal would require will have a negative effect on the stock market for no good reason. Companies large and small, new and established will have to consider reducing the number of options distributed to rank-and-file employees as the only way to reduce the ``expense'' now appearing in financial statements. Meanwhile, it will have only a nominal impact on executive compensation because most of the ``expense'' of a broad-based plan is with the larger amount of options that go to rank and file employees. If compelled to expense, most corporations would simply abandon or dramatically cut back broad-based stock option plans, rather than take a substantial and arbitrary charge to their bottom line.
Skepticism grows.
More and more, experts agree that expensing under current models does not create greater accounting accuracy, transparency or reliability. FASB's proposal will likely muddy the valuation waters rather than clarify them.