Employee Stock Purchase Plans and the Calculation of Basic and Diluted Earnings per Share

Earnings per share (EPS) is the most common and complex performance measurement that a publicly held company presents in its quarterly and annual reports (Josef Rashty and John O’Shaughnessy, “Restricted Stock Units and the Calculation of Basic and Diluted Earnings per Share,” The CPA Journal, June 2011, pp. 40–45). Guidance for calculating and reporting EPS can be found in two parts of the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC): Topic 260, “Earnings per Share,” which provides for the calculation and presentation of the basic and diluted EPS, and Topic 718, “Compensation—Stock Compensation,” which provides for certain unique characteristics of stock compensation that impact the EPS calculation.