Discover how companies can effectively prepare for IPOs by aligning stakeholders, fortifying financials, and ensuring equity plans are primed to scale for the demands of public markets. With the IPO pipeline showing signs of renewed activity, this roundtable offers a valuable platform to exchange experiences, discuss challenges, and develop actionable strategies with peers and industry experts.
This interactive discussion will delve into critical aspects of the IPO process, spotlighting common equity-related roadblocks and practical solutions to address them. Participants will explore best practices for stakeholder alignment, financial readiness, and creating scalable share plans that can withstand the scrutiny of public markets.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Explore and discuss the steps required to align stakeholders and ensure financials are prepared for IPO scrutiny.
• Share insights into overcoming equity-related challenges and addressing common blockers.
• Discuss strategies to adapt and scale share plans to ensure a smooth transition to public markets.

As global trade policies evolve, tariffs are increasingly influencing more than just goods—they’re affecting how multinational companies design and administer employee share plans. In this session, industry experts will explore how tariff-driven costs and shifting regulations are adding complexity to equity compensation.

We'll consider how companies might adapt their strategies, redesign plans for resilience, and communicate effectively in a rapidly changing global landscape.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Discover how tariff pressures may reshape award design, plan localization, and performance metrics.
• Learn ways to keep participants engaged despite rising uncertainty and regional volatility.
• Get practical insights into “tariff-proofing” your equity plans for the future

Long-term incentive (LTI) design is becoming increasingly complex as organizations face shifting macroeconomic conditions. Companies are tasked with incorporating ESG metrics, managing relative performance awards, and setting meaningful goals amidst market volatility.

This session will explore the latest trends in LTI vehicles, metrics, and structures, offering actionable strategies for adapting LTI plans to meet current and future challenges.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Explore recent trends in LTI design, with a focus on the growing importance of ESG metrics and relative performance awards.
• Learn effective strategies for setting performance goals in an unpredictable economic environment.
• Understand how emerging trends are shaping the structure and impact of long-term incentive plans.

GEO’s Global Share Plans Ranking Project is the first of its kind, offering a country-level snapshot of the appetite, support, and provision of employee share ownership - and now includes insights from even more countries!

With insights from senior equity compensation issuers and service providers across a growing number of countries, this expanded report paints the bigger picture of employee equity worldwide. This session will dive into key report highlights, uncovering the countries leading the charge in employee equity adoption as well as those with untapped potential.

KEY LEARNINGS:

        • Explore key findings, including emerging trends and barriers to implementing share plans
        • Learn how to leverage the report to strategically extend plans into new countries or boost participation in your current regions
        • Discover actionable insights to enhance your global equity strategies

This session is designed to introduce stock plan administrators to the key principles of share-based compensation accounting, equipping them with the foundational knowledge necessary to support financial reporting teams and ensure compliance with IFRS 2 and ASC 718.

While deep accounting expertise isn't required, understanding the intersection between stock plan administration and financial reporting will enable smoother collaboration and more efficient processes.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Learn how stock plan data feeds into financial reporting and why its accuracy is essential for compliance with accounting standards.
• Gain insight into grant date fair value, valuation models, amortization methods (graded vs. straight-line), and how they impact financial statements.
• Explore how performance awards, forfeiture rates, and termination processing affect both stock plan administration and financial reporting, and understand the differences between IFRS 2 and ASC 718.

As Boards of Directors strive to refine the goal-setting process for short-term and long-term incentive programs, many are turning to advanced financial modeling techniques like Monte Carlo simulation.

In this session, explore how heightened macroeconomic volatility over the past five years has reshaped goal-setting practices and delve into the processes companies use to set and communicate performance goals effectively.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Understand how recent economic instability has influenced goal-setting methodologies for incentive programs.
• Discover best practices for setting and communicating performance goals in alignment with organizational objectives.
• Learn how Monte Carlo simulations can provide actionable data for evaluating performance metrics and optimizing incentive payouts.

As remote and location-independent work continues to rise, managing tax and social security implications for employees working in different countries presents unique challenges for both employers and employees.

This session will explore how location-independent workers impact the tax and social security sourcing for equity-based compensation and how companies can navigate these complexities.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Understand the tax and social security challenges faced by location-independent workers and how they affect equity compensation.
• Learn about the impact of vesting periods on tax sourcing and the administrative burdens for both issuers and employees.
• Explore the solutions companies are implementing in response to these challenges within the EU and OECD framework.

As global stock plan administration grows more complex, advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are becoming essential tools for enhancing efficiency, reducing errors, and maintaining compliance. This session will delve into practical applications of AI-driven tools and automation, focusing on real-world experiences from leading issuers.

Attendees will gain actionable insights into streamlining stock plan administration, improving both corporate and employee experiences, and preparing their operations for the future.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Collaborate with peers to uncover practical strategies for leveraging AI and automation to simplify stock plan administration.
• Exchange ideas on how to effectively integrate automation tools into existing frameworks and address potential challenges.
• Discuss emerging trends in AI and automation and brainstorm innovative ways to prepare for the future of stock plan management.

Explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and equity compensation in this engaging session. As ChatGPT evolves, this session questions whether AI can match human expertise in this field.

Join this roundtable session as equity compensation experts critique ChatGPT's responses, examining its handling of scenarios like stock options, restricted stock units, and performance shares through live demonstrations and discussions.

KEY LEARNING POINTS:

• Evaluate ChatGPT’s capabilities in equity compensation, identifying its strengths and limitations through live demonstrations.
• Exchange insights on practical applications of AI in managing stock options, restricted stock units, and performance shares, drawing from shared experiences.
• Discuss the future of AI in finance and compensation roles, exploring how it might reshape the equity compensation landscape and influence professional practices.