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11. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement, Noncash Expense [Abstract]

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

Equity Compensation Plan – On June 2, 2015, the Company’s board of directors approved the 2015 Equity Compensation Plan (“Plan”). The Plan made 1,175,000 common stock shares, either unissued or reacquired by the Company, available for awards of options, restricted stock, other stock grants, or any combination thereof. The number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the Plan shall automatically increase on the first trading day of January each calendar year during the term of the Plan, beginning with calendar year 2016, by an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on the last trading day in December of the immediately preceding calendar year, but in no event shall any such annual increase exceed 100,000 shares of common stock. Effective September 30, 2019, the adjustment date was changed to October 1st of each year based on total number of shares outstanding on September 30 of each year. On April 19, 2019, shareholders approved an amendment to the Plan and increased the amount of shares available for issuance under the Plan to 2,000,000 and retained the annual evergreen increase provision of the Plan.

We account for stock-based compensation using the provisions of ASC 718. ASC 718 codification requires companies to recognize the fair value of stock-based compensation expense in the financial statements based on the grant date fair value of the options. We have only awarded stock options since December 2015. All options are approved by the Compensation Nominating and Governance Committee of the board of directors. Restricted stock awards that vest in accordance with service conditions are amortized over their applicable vesting period using the straight-line method. The fair value of our stock option awards or modifications is estimated at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.

Eligible recipients include employees, officers, directors and consultants who are deemed to have rendered or to be able to render significant services to the Company or its subsidiaries and who are deemed to have contributed or to have the potential to contribute to the success of the Company. Options granted generally have a five to ten year term and have vesting terms that cover one to three years from the date of grant. Certain of the stock options granted under the plan have been granted pursuant to various stock option agreements. Each stock option agreement contains specific terms.

Stock Options – The Company currently has awards outstanding with service conditions and graded-vesting features. We recognize compensation cost on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period.

The fair value of each time-based award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option valuation model. Our weighted-average assumptions used in the Black-Scholes valuation model for equity awards with time-based vesting provisions granted during the year.

The following table summarizes stock option activity under the Plan for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019:

		Number of shares				Weighted-average exercise price				Weighted-average remaining contractual term (in years)				Aggregate intrinsic value (in thousands)
Outstanding at September 30, 2018			469,650			$	5.13
Granted			750,000				6.66
Exercised			-				-
Forfeited			-				-
Outstanding at September 30, 2019			1,219,650				6.07
Granted			690,000				2.73
Exercised			-				-
Forfeited			159,650				6.90
Outstanding at September 30, 2020			1,750,000			$	4.68				6.01			$	-

Exercisable at September 30, 2020			1,358,334			$	4.54				5.92			$	-

We recognized $1,900,194 and $2,458,530 of non-cash stock option expense for the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of September 30, 2020, there was approximately $669,760 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested stock options which vest over a period of approximately 1.6 years.

Restricted Stock Award transactions:

In May 2019 the Company issued 57,500 restricted stock awards in aggregate to eleven employees. The restricted stock awards vested January 1, 2020. The stock awards were valued at fair market upon issuance at $368,000 and amortized over the vesting period.

We recognized $138,000 and $230,000 of stock based compensation expense for the restricted stock awards for the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

In June 2019, the Company issued 10,000 restricted stock awards to a company sponsor. The restricted stock awards vested June 30, 2020. The stock awards were valued at fair market upon issuance at $56,200 and amortized over the vesting period and were expensed to sponsorship expense.