v3.7.0.1
Compensation Related Costs, Policy (Policies)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017
Policies  
Compensation Related Costs, Policy

 

Share-Based Compensation  

The Company has adopted the use of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123R, “Share-Based Payment” (SFAS No. 123R) (now contained in FASB Codification Topic 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation), which supersedes APB Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees,” and its related implementation guidance and eliminates the alternative to use Opinion 25’s intrinsic value method of accounting that was provided in Statement 123 as originally issued. This Statement requires an entity to measure the cost of employee services received in exchange for an award of an equity instruments, which includes grants of stock options and stock warrants, based on the fair value of the award, measured at the grant date (with limited exceptions). Under this standard, the fair value of each award is estimated on the grant date, using an option-pricing model that meets certain requirements. We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to estimate the fair value of our equity awards, including stock options and warrants. The Black-Scholes model meets the requirements of SFAS No. 123R; however, the fair values generated may not reflect their actual fair values, as it does not consider certain factors, such as vesting requirements, employee attrition and transferability limitations. The Black-Scholes model valuation is affected by our stock price and a number of assumptions, including expected volatility, expected life, risk-free interest rate and expected dividends. We estimate the expected volatility and estimated life of our stock options at grant date based on historical volatility; however, due to the thinly traded nature of our stock, we have chosen to use an average of the annual volatility of like companies in our industry. For the “risk-free interest rate,” we use the Constant Maturity Treasury rate on 90-day government securities. The term is equal to the time until the option expires. The dividend yield is not applicable, as the Company has not paid any dividends, nor do we anticipate paying them in the foreseeable future. The fair value of our restricted stock is based on the market value of our free trading common stock, on the grant date calculated using a 20-trading-day average. At the time of grant, the share-based compensation expense is recognized in our financial statements based on awards that are ultimately expected to vest using historical employee attrition rates and the expense is reduced accordingly.  It is also adjusted to account for the restricted and thinly traded nature of the shares.  The expense is reviewed and adjusted in subsequent periods if actual attrition differs from those estimates.

We re-evaluate the assumptions used to value our share-based awards on a quarterly basis and, if changes warrant different assumptions, the share-based compensation expense could vary significantly from the amount expensed in the past. We may be required to adjust any remaining share-based compensation expense, based on any additions, cancellations or adjustments to the share-based awards. The expense is recognized over the period during which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the award—the requisite service period (usually the vesting period). No compensation cost is recognized for equity instruments for which employees do not render the requisite service.  For the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 we had $2,460 and $16,000 respectively, in share based expense, due to the issuance of common stock.  As of March 31, 2017 we had no further non-vested expense to be recognized.