A unique thing about ESOP companies is that the trustee is the shareholder of record for the corporation, not the ESOP participants, who are beneficial owners. The trustee is a critical player, but the concept of a trustee can be confusing and unfamiliar to employee-owners.

Written for ESOP fiduciaries and trustees, this Brief discusses the interplay of synthetic equity, warrants, and various valuation methods.

Using opportunity cost to understand the true cost of the repurchase obligation on an ESOP company’s share price.

How to use convertible preferred stock in an ESOP.

A guide to the ERISA rules all ESOP fiduciaries need to know to fulfill their obligations.

A guide to the rules surrounding ESOP distributions including an overview of The Put Option.

There are various tax incentives to encourage companies to consider an ESOP. This Brief discusses an employer’s ability to use tax deductible funds to service ESOP debt and the advantages of deductible cash dividends.

This Brief describes common accounting practices for non-leveraged and leveraged ESOPs.

A summary of the valuation issues S corporations can encounter. This is a highly technical ESOP Brief.

S corporation election can result in substantial tax savings at the corporate level, but some factors may not make S election viable for all companies.