The Department of Labor has made it clear in its various process agreements with ESOP fiduciaries that it wants ESOP companies to be more prudent in how they prepare forecasts for appraisals.
Fifty-seven percent of ESOP company boards have a compensation committee, increasingly made up in part or entirely by outside directors. What should these committees be doing to make sure compensation is handled appropriately?
At the NCEO's recent annual conference, Southwest Airlines President Emeritus Colleen Barrett said that people are always lining up to her to tell her their favorite Southwest stories, usually about how employees went out of their way to help customers, make people laugh, or otherwise go well bey
At the NCEO/Beyster Institute's recent annual conference in Portland, Southwest President Emeritus Colleen Barrett told the attendees that airline executives can be reluctant to say what they do at a social gathering for fear of the stories people will want to tell about their terrible experience
We are now considering Seattle, Los Angeles (probably the Hollywood area), and San Francisco for the 2013 conference. Los Angeles and Seattle would offer about the same hotel prices; San Francisco would be about 15% higher. Where would you like it to be?
The Obama administration's revenue proposals include one item specific to ESOPs. The administration notes that current law is unclear about whether transfer of qualified replacement property to a spouse should trigger tax on the amount of capital gains originally deferred in an ESOP transaction.
In response to an informal poll conducted by the NCEO, 44 ESOP appraisers indicated that they do over 3,000 valuations annually, representing approximately one-third of active ESOPs and ESOP-equivalent plans.
Making employee ownership thrive includes increasing the number of employee-owners. As part of our mission, we produce events and disseminate information about establishing ESOPs to businesses across the U.S. We are announcing "Who Should Own Your Business After You?," a feasibility meeting series.
Writing in Forbes, Susan Adams describes the day in August 2005 when Mandy Cabot decided not to sell her company, which sells wooden clogs, to a much larger company.
The dollar you give to employees in ownership usually feels like a lost dollar to you. Unfortunately, it probably does not seem like a gained dollar to your employees.
