Blair Systems Offers Its Employees a Variety of Share-Based Compensation

Essay

Blair Systems offers its employees a variety of share-based compensation plans including stock options, stock appreciation rights, and restricted stock. The following is an excerpt from a disclosure note from Blair's 2018 financial statements:
Note 11 Employee Benefit Plans (in part)
The Company adopted accounting guidelines under ASC Topic 718 which require the measurement and recognition of compensation expense for all share-based payment awards made to the Company's employees and directors including employee stock options and employee stock purchase rights, based on estimated fair values. Employee share-based compensation expense under ASC Topic 718 was as follows (in millions): $\begin{array}{|l|l|l|l|}\hline\text { Years Ended } & 2018 & 2017 & 2016 \\\hline \text { Total employee share-based compensation expense } & \$ 455 & \$ 870 & \$ 760 \\\hline\end{array}$ Required:
1. Blair's share-based compensation includes stock options, stock appreciation rights, and restricted stock awards. What is the general financial reporting objective when recording compensation expense for these forms of compensation?
2. Blair reported share-based expense of $455 million in 2018. Without referring to specific numbers and ignoring other forms of share-based compensation, describe how this amount reflects the value of stock options.