It will soon be the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Black-Scholes model for option valuation. The fair value of options has since been incorporated into several aspects of financial reporting. However, in the case of diluted earnings per share, the accounting still pre-dates Black-Scholes.
The treasury stock method for calculating diluted earnings per share only considers the intrinsic value of written equity options, such as warrants and employee stock options. We explain why this is a problem and the further reasons why the full economic value dilution resulting from these securities is not reflected in financial statements.
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