SEC Extends Compliance Dates for FAS 123R Share Based Payment Disclosure

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on April 14, 2005 a six month postponement for most companies of FAS 123R which requires expensing of stock options (see Press Release 2005-57). Prior to this extension, public companies were required to comply with FAS 123R in their fiscal quarters beginning after June 15, 2005 and thus generally for most issuers beginning with the quarter ending September 30, 2005.

The April 15 SEC release (Release 33-8568, in PDF format) now requires companies to apply FAS 123R beginning with the first fiscal year (as opposed to the first fiscal quarter) after June 15, 2005 (or December 15, 2005 in the case of small business issuers). As a result, FAS 123R will now first be generally effective, at least in the case of calendar year companies, for the quarter ending March 31, 2006 giving such companies a six month compliance extension. Those companies with fiscal years beginning between July and December of 2005 will be required to comply with the