Weekly Brief
×Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Financial Services Review
Thank you for Subscribing to Financial Services Review Weekly Brief
By
Financial Services Review | Friday, June 02, 2023
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
Many businesses are tempted to choose a broker solution outright. After all, a number of the bigger brokerage firms provide stock management services that are affordable or even free. When you don't consider what you're getting or grasp the potential limits, "free" products can cost you a lot of money.
Fremont, CA: Many businesses are tempted to choose a broker solution outright. After all, a number of the bigger brokerage firms provide stock management services that are affordable or even free. When you don't consider what you're getting or grasp the potential limits, "free" products can cost you a lot of money.
Here are inquiries you should make as you seek the ideal equity management program for your business.
Problem-solving support
Equity management has a lot of deadlines that must be met. Therefore, you must act quickly when something goes wrong. You'll typically need to get in touch with an expert immediately away. The problem is that many brokerage houses outsource their software support to unreliable outside firms with unqualified workers. Others outsource the process and put customer happiness last to save money.
You commit to a long-term partnership when you choose an equities management solution from one of the major brokerage companies. Locking you into working with the broker is in their best interests. For you, the client, however, this is not the case.
It's crucial to consider the TCO, or total cost of ownership, before making this choice. Every time you want to switch to a different broker, you must consider the cost of implementation, or in this example, the cost of re-implementing new software.
Can equity management software scale with your business?
Software that can scale with your business will be essential as it grows through several fundraising rounds, an IPO, and possibly even managing equity and reporting for public companies. This will prevent you from switching service providers during your growth.
Software for stock management can be rather basic for smaller businesses, but as they grow, complexity can creep in quite rapidly. This poses serious difficulties at an inopportune time. The business is expanding swiftly. New personnel are joining, others may be leaving, and new funding rounds are entering. At a time when firm resources are already at their maximum capacity, these factors add complication.
Independent professional advisors
Although equity management software is crucial for developing businesses, there are instances when you require more. Managing cap tables becomes more difficult and complex as your company expands. A few of your employees quit the company, and options are granted, shares finally vest, and new people are brought on board.
The process of handling equity compensation can easily turn into one that is extremely challenging and time-consuming. You may automate and streamline your equity management procedures with the correct software, which can increase accuracy and save processing time. But if it's not accompanied by an informed group of professionals who will support you as you develop, you only receive half the picture.
Compliance and reporting requirements
The cornerstones of equities management are reporting and compliance. The first step is ASC 718 reporting, which ensures that remuneration is accurately reflected in your business's financial statements. But as soon as tax accounting and reporting are involved, things can quickly become difficult.
Find out if the stock management software can handle computations for deferred tax assets and deferred tax benefits, Additional Paid in Capital Pool amounts, and jurisdictional tax allocations as you look for equity management software. How well does the program manage ESPP calculations and reporting for late-stage private enterprises and public corporations to address the complexity of SEC, FASB, and IFRS regulatory requirements? It should manage proxy reporting for publicly traded businesses as well.