IESOC to Voice More Opposition to FASB Proposal to Mandate Expensing of Employee Stock Options at Roundtable in Norwalk, CT

Business Wire, June 28, 2004

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is holding morning and afternoon Roundtable discussion sessions in Norwalk, CT tomorrow (Tuesday, June 29) to consider the expensing of broad-based employee stock option plans.

Experienced tax attorney Kim Boylan will address FASB on behalf of the International Employee Stock Options Coalition (IESOC), which comprises a diverse range of trade associations and companies representing a wide spectrum of industries, including high-tech, manufacturing and service companies, in the United States and abroad.

The IESOC opposes FASB's proposal because it will hurt U.S. competitiveness. Employee stock options fuel innovation, small businesses and economic growth, and many companies will be forced to curtail or eliminate their broad-based stock option plans if they are required to expense the options. Throughout the United States, 14 million American workers currently hold employee stock options; some 89 percent of those workers who hold employee stock options are not managers.

Date:  Tuesday, June 29, 2004

                     Event: FASB Roundtable

                     Time:  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
                            1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

                     Place: FASB
                            401 Merritt 7
                            (Main Avenue Route 7)
                            Norwalk, CT