Skip navigation
Title: 

Stock Option Expense, Forward-Looking Information, and Implied Volatilities of Traded Options

Authors: Bartov, Eli
Mohanram, Partha S.
Nissim, Doron
Keywords: executive stock options;forward-looking information;SFAS No. 123;implied volatility
Issue Date: Apr-2004
Series/Report no.: Eli Bartov-09
Abstract: Prior research generally finds that firms underreport option expense by managing assumptions underlying option valuation (e.g. they shorten the expected option lives), but it fails to document management of a key assumption, the one concerning expected stock-price volatility. Using a new methodology, we address two questions: (1) To what extent do companies follow the guidance in FAS 123 and use forward looking information in addition to the readily available historical volatility in estimating expected volatility? (2) What determines the cross-sectional variation in the reliance on forward looking information? We find that firms use both historical and forward-looking information in deriving expected volatility. We also find, however, that the reliance on forward-looking information is limited to situations where this reliance results in reduced expected volatility and thus smaller option expense. We interpret this finding as managers opportunistically use the discretion in estimating expected volatility afforded by FAS 123. In support of this interpretation, we also find that managerial incentives play a key role in this opportunism.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2451/27569
Appears in Collections:Accounting Working Papers

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
SSRN-id510042.pdf187.31 kBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in FDA are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.