Effective January 1, 2004, the Canadian Accounting Standards Board now requires public companies to expense all stock-based compensation awards including stock options.

Cherry

The board, known as the "AcSB," firmly places Canada into the "early adopter" category, although AcSB chair Paul Cherry claims the ultimate goal is to harmonize with global standards.

As a result, some changes may be necessary. “In order to have a harmonized standard," say Cherry, "it may be necessary at a later date for the Canadian board to remove 'nuisance' differences if they exist between our standard and FASB’s planned standard, but this should be a relatively simple matter.”

Details are available below:

  Revised Canadian Standards Dealing with Stock-Based Payments