On 17 January 2008, the IASB published final amendments to IFRS 2 Share-based Payment to clarify the terms 'vesting conditions' and 'cancellations' as follows:
Vesting conditions are service conditions and performance conditions only. Other features of a share-based payment are not vesting conditions. Under IFRS 2, features of a share-based payment that are not vesting conditions should be included in the grant date fair value of the share-based payment. The fair value also includes market-related vesting conditions. All cancellations, whether by the entity or by other parties, should receive the same accounting treatment. Under IFRS 2, a cancellation of equity instruments is accounted for as an acceleration of the vesting period. Therefore any amount unrecognised that would otherwise have been charged is recognised immediately. Any payments made with the cancellation (up to the fair value of the equity instruments) is accounted for as the repurchase of an equity interest. Any payment in excess of the fair value of the equity instruments granted is recognised as an expense.
The Board had proposed the amendment in an exposure draft on 2 February 2006. The amendment is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009, with earlier application permitted.
Click for Press Release (PDF 47k).
Deloitte has published a Special Edition of our IAS Plus Newsletter explaining the amendments to IFRS 2 for vesting conditions and cancellations (PDF 126k).
June 2009: IASB amends IFRS 2 for group cash-settled share-based payment transactions, withdraws IFRICs 8 and 11
On 18 June 2009, the IASB issued amendments to IFRS 2 Share-based Payment that clarify the accounting for group cash-settled share-based payment transactions. The amendments clarify how an individual subsidiary in a group should account for some share-based payment arrangements in its own financial statements. In these arrangements, the subsidiary receives goods or services from employees or suppliers but its parent or another entity in the group must pay those suppliers. The amendments make clear that:
An entity that receives goods or services in a share-based payment arrangement must account for those goods or services no matter which entity in the group settles the transaction, and no matter whether the transaction is settled in shares or cash. In IFRS 2 a 'group' has the same meaning as in IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements, that is, it includes only a parent and its subsidiaries.
The amendments to IFRS 2 also incorporate guidance previously included in IFRIC 8 Scope of IFRS 2 and IFRIC 11 IFRS 2–Group and Treasury Share Transactions. As a result, the IASB has withdrawn IFRIC 8 and IFRIC 11. The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2010 and must be applied retrospectively. Earlier application is permitted. Click for IASB press release (PDF 103k).
June 2016: IASB clarifies the classification and measurement of share-based payment transactions
On 20 June 2016, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published final amendments to IFRS 2 that clarify the classification and measurement of share-based payment transactions:
