Viewpoint_on_Stock_Options（英文版）

T h e D e b a t e
Much has been said and written about stock options in recent months. Yet each
position has a counterpoint. The side you take may depend on your motives or
who you represent. The most common themes—and their counterpoints—can
be summarized as follows:
POINT: Stock options are said to cause executives to focus on driving up
the value of their company’s stock price in the short term. The argument
then goes on to say that this leads executives to make questionable
decisions to inflate revenues and understate expenses so that they can
cash-in on the option gain. In sum, stock options are accused of reinforcing
“executive greed.”
COUNTERPOINT: Institutional investors and money managers demand
near-term profit performance; otherwise, they may immediately punish
the stock by selling. They are free to do so, but most executive options
have vesting restrictions and top managers have additional constraints
imposed by their companies and securities laws. In addition, in the 1990s,
any short-term market weakness could throw a company into play.
Exactly who has the longer-term focus?
POINT: Stock options are not accounted for as an expense to the business.
One view is that this omission inflates reported profits and thereby misleads
investors.
COUNTERPOINT: Dilution of shareholder value by stock options is
already accounted for in FAS 128—the so-called treasury stock method.
That accounts for options by diluting the company’s reported earnings per
diluted share. Also, the pro-forma
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