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Ez Custom Software Solutions, Inc. - Company News
Intro To Services        


Stox Road Map Info*

Available Now: Stox Cloud - please contact us for details.

Available Now: Stox for iPad. If you are interested please submit requests of Stox features you would like to see on iPad

Available On Demand: Stox ML - we are incorporating machine learning algorithms into processes that estimate expected term used in grant valuation.


Stox 4.26.919 released


10/19/2024



Stox 2024 Q4 edition with Stox AI Admin Assistant ™

Based on the Meta Llama 3 Large Language Model and custom trained on Stox guides.

It is an addition to our on-line help system accessible from Stox directly (Help screen) or from web browser using stox.chat

On our way to full Stox AI agents.

Stay tuned.


Please read releases log for more, or

visit our downloads page and request a fully functional product demo.


Highlights from our previous releases:


Stox 2023 Q3 Filemaker Pro Edition introduced Status Details Cache that significantly improves performance in running quarterly reports.

Stox 2023 Q2 Filemaker Pro Edition introduced unlimited user-generated custom SQL reports/exports.

Added Proxy Compensation Actually Paid report to address SEC final rule Pay versus Performance, 17 CFR Parts 229, 232, and 240, [Release Nos. 34-95607; File No. S7-07-15]
Ez Custom Software Solutions is offering Stox based on the latest Claris Corporation Filemaker Pro software platform.

Please contact us for more details.
Several reports corrected in subtitles for the proper FMV printing.

Stox is ready for the 2019 FASB changes related to the non-employee (consultant) compensation.

Options Outstanding report modified related to the Roll-forward input.

Using Vesting Details is now possible per grant election.

Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report has been modified to show grants that are granted within report period but already vested before reporting period start date.

Valuation process and screen are modified for repriced/exchanged grant valuation 2nd row of inputs.

Stock swap exercise type modification.

Added Roll-forward report as an addition to Options Outstanding report.

Added Restricted Stock Ledger under Reports - Employees to show specific information unique to restricted stock units.

Modifications to SCRATCH Options to correct possible error in calculating expenses for grants with monthly vesting. Affected report is Expense Allocation BSS/Bin.

Modifications to Expense Allocation BSS/Bin calculation on repriced/exchanged grants - corrections in cases when repriced grant is vested, and when repriced grant is canceled after the reprice date (as a result of employee termination, for example).

Performance improvements/corrections when you do not Use Expense Details. We recommend using Expense Details and saving period expenses. Please contact us if you do not Use Expense Details for transition instructions.

Modification to Expense Allocation BSS/Bin calculation when grant is repriced or exchanged - system continues to show expenses both for repriced/exchanged grant and new grant.

Modification in ESPP valuation on plan discount.

Data check for exercises imported after the last exercisable date.

Modification to Expense Allocation BSS/Bin calculation - Prefer Min Vested has been modified to calculate period expenses when total straight line % is over the shares vested %

Storing expense allocation report settings with period expense in the expense details table.

Adding keywords to Valuation Notes in order to override Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report settings, making it possible to run different expense allocation parameters.

Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report shows number of outstanding unvested shares.

Expense Allocation report is modified in order allow easy calculation of expenses for grants that you have missed to enter in previous reporting periods, or for grants that are canceled in previous quarter but you forgot to do that.
Performance related vesting is much easier to enter into Stox. When you know performance criteria (met, not met, partially met) there is a system task to Modify Performance grants.
ESPP Refunds - it is now possible to delete manually created refund. Contributions Modify process is changed to allow this resulting in much easier way to create individual refunds.
System now mandatory logs when each user enters Stox, and when quits.
Expense Allocation reports now include deferred tax assets related to expenses.
System reads tax rate per grant from User Data 4 field, or apply tax rate specified as report input if User Data 4 is empty.
It applies percentage on Net Period Amortized, and stores it in RV Credit field.
Added User Data 4 and RV Credit field to export only.

Expense Allocation report - added sort by both User Data and User Data 2 field (and associated sub-summaries)
First click on User Data 2 sort button sorts only by User Data 2, second click sorts by User Data and User Data 2.
Changes in Export procedure to allow export for summary only info by User Data and User Data 2.

Expense allocation calculation now calculates expenses in two passes - from report start date to latest vest date in the reporting period + from latest vest date in the period to report end date.
If there are no vest date in the reporting period calc is from report start to report end date.

Correction in Expense Allocation forfeiture rate calculation when grants starts vesting after the grant date.

Unamortized Expenses report now shows 0 years remaining to vest if grant is canceled as of report end date.

New Purchases process change - Modified Data Check in Contributions to check if contribution date relates to employee subscription date, termination date, withdrawal date, employee status in order to flag if there is a person who contributed but is not on the eligible list (not marked as an employee, is terminated, withdrawn, not subscribed).

Expense Allocation BS Multiple - added Unamortized report and export.

ISO Limit check changes - adding a correction that clears 0 shares vesting periods.
As a result of ISO + matching NQ split ISO grant may have 0 shares in the first few vesting periods, and then only shares at the end, and NQ will have 0 shares at the end.
Modified process will now remove 0 shares vesting and re-arrange vesting schedule so no blank periods exist.

Stock Split modifications now stores more information about stock split in Notes field (or Leftover Notes in Purchases) in order to capture pre-split shares number and price. It can be used later if post-split reconciliation is needed.

Expense Allocation BSM (Black-Scholes Multiple) - added Save Expenses and Read Expenses.

Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report and export - deferred tax calculation - allow use of tax rate per grant in User Data 4 field, or apply tax rate specified as report input if User Data 4 is empty. Then apply percentage on Net Period Amortized. Add User Data 4 and calculated deferred tax to export only.

New Grants, grants modifications - SCRATCH Options - added Use Global Prefix.
If checked, and global prefix is empty it means no prefix is used in Option ID - no plan name in option id.
Go To New Grants - System Tasks and set it. Applies for new grants only.

Options - Data Check - added check if employee is terminated but grant is not and grant date is after the termination date (report employee should rehire); or grant is not canceled even if termination date is before grant expiration date (report cancel b/c term.)


Improved option pricing experience:

Price Volatility report - Valuation inputs - calculate weighted average interest rate based on expected term and two closest interest rates from on-line source treasury yields on date.

Update to Grants Approaching expiration to show both canceled/expired as a result of last exercisable date and not only expired by original option term.

RPT Options By Price - performance improvements when range of prices is set.

Expense Allocation reports (both BSS/Bin and BS Multiple) - added export for summary only by User Data or User Data 2.

Expense Allocation - Save Expenses - shows message that expenses are saved.

Corrected Expense Allocation BSM report - sort/group by User Data fields and related sub-summaries.

Expense Allocation BSS/Bin and BSM reports - performance improvements, skips all records that are not part of the report, and then process.

Allowed mixing Expense Allocation reports and different BS formula with saving expenses for the same reporting period, and using it for running Diluted Options Outstanding reports.

Tax Withheld report - show records if Total Gain >0, not only if taxes paid >0. This way it will show W2 calculated gain.

Expected Term By Class report - added Cancel After Vest input - if checked system will treat grant cancellations as after the vest date.

Price Volatility report - corrected Create Forecast procedure.

Unvested Forfeitures - corrected Update Forecasts procedure.

Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report - corrected unamortized expense report when there are more than five future periods.

Improved valuation input estimate experience, which helps both employee and non-employee valuation and expenses:

Expected Term By Class report - added button to Run Price Volatility report after you get expected term estimate. Report will be run over expected term years before expected term report end date.

Price Volatility report - added Create Forecast button that will create forecast record, helping the non-employee valuation that has to be re-measured.

Unvested Forfeitures - added Update Forecasts button that will update unvested forfeitures in all forecasts.

Unvested Forfeitures report - added report input to include only grants unvested X years before status as of date.

Added Expected term by class report to help in creating option valuation forecasts.

Bug fix in APIC Pool report related to grant that has both canceled and expired shares in the reporting period.

Bug fix in Diluted Options Outstanding Reports related to average unamortized expense.

Added new report that shows unamortized expense distribution over future vesting years, with weighted average remaining life.

Employee Termination procedure does not set cancel date if grant has been expired before Termination Date.

Web Export does an export only for non-terminated employees and if terminations has occured after the date specified at the Maintenance screen.

Stox in multiuser scenario can automatically loads system preferences upon login

We were at the 19th Annual  NASPP Conference  in San Francisco (Nov 1-4, 2011)


Added Blackout Dates (from - to) at system preferences, which will block saving new exercises with dates within blackout period.

Stox release number is moved to About screen.

If your support and maintenance date is near, and you have renewed/extended your support, it is possible to enter an unlock code at the About screen before original support date has passed.

Updates to the Expense Allocation BSS/Bin reporting to allow graded vesting allocation method (Fin28), which treats each vesting period as a separate grant.

If your support and maintenance date has passed, and you have renewed/extended your support, it is now possible to request an unlock code and enter it at the About screen.

Updates to set of Diluted Options Outstanding reports for full ASC 260 compliance (default report inputs are now set according to ASC 260 requirements).
Updates to the Expense Allocation BSS/Bin reporting to allow easier and transparent reading of previously calculated expenses, as well as extended support for expense adjustments (both one time and from the grant date retroactive adjustments as a result of grant modifications).

All-gray Stox color scheme from Stox 2.92.919

Added Option Statement By Employee report, with Send by e-mail option.

Expense Allocation BS Single/Bin straight line allocation method enhanced to allow user to select expense calculation based on Unamortized Expense.

Added sort/group by Custom field 2 on the Expense Allocation reports.

Modified New Grants screen to copy Custom fields from Employee profile. Only user fields with same labels will be copied.

New Option Dispositions and New Purchase Dispositions enhanced to show summary fields for shares disposed, disposable and to-dispose, as well as Total section for all new records.

Expense Allocation reports are modified for easier reading. There is a new column added that transparently shows ending result for net period expense amount.

There is a system tasks modification in Employees table that allows you to control showing sensitive information like SSN throughout the system.

Updates to the Price Volatility report that allows you to specify using weekly prices on specific day instead of daily prices for volatility calculation.

Grant Status report and Termination report are modified in the summary part for easier reading, and now show roll-forward totals for shares exercisable and outstanding.

Updates to the Modify Contributions process that allows you to create refund manually.

Corrections to the Expense Allocation reports when Show Outstanding Vested is checked and grant vest date is before report start date, corrections to the Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report related to Use Expense Details and Expense adjustment as of grant date.

Added On-line Help & Support β system.

Improved APIC Pool report to automatically include both grants valued and expensed using Black-Scholes Single model or Binomial valuation model, as well as grants with Black-Scholes Multiple valuation model and related expense allocation.

Improved APIC Pool report to take expense adjustments into calculation.

Improved Expense Allocation BSS/Bin report when using expense details. Added Save Expenses check-box, so system now does not automatically save expense details.

Added Include All check-box to the same report in order system to show all records, not just those with outstanding shares as of report end date, or just records that have period expenses.

Improved Log System Statistics.

Added APIC Pool report to help you with the deferred taxes reconciliation.

Few new keywords added for Description field in the Vesting Schedules.

Added possibility in Option Vesting Adjustments table to reversely modify option price as a part of as-of-date shares adjustment.


Added generic Assignments table to track any type of employee as-of-date or from-to assignments.

Added Option Expense Details table in order to exactly track and record expenses as of date.

Added Option Vesting Adjustments table along with RSU (Restricted Stock Unit) stock type to address performance stock that have variable vesting percentage that changes from time to time, with implications on expenses.

Added Logs table - changed logging procedure to add new records in Logs table to completely cover data changes/audit reporting.

Added Ending Vested + Expected to Vest entry at the Stock Option Activity Summary report. Two updated reports: Aggregate Intrinsic Value and Options By Price (radio button added that allows you to select report for Vested Shares + Expected To Vest using Unvested Forfeiture Rate from Forecast record.

Added Use Option Vesting Details for Shares Vested instead of calculating shares vested. With Vesting Details it is possible to specify exact amount of shares to vest per each date, and it covers all possible combinations with uneven number of shares per vesting periods.

Added three additional (four in total) user data fields in Options.

Added Cancel Options check-box on the Employee Termination screen. If cleared, grants will stay alive. This way you can terminate employee but not related options.

Added Modify Cancel Date along with Modify Last Exercise Date for terminated grants, so you can now have different termination date and option cancel date.


Large number of reports have been improved to allow multiple plan selection as a report input.

Multiple option type selection as a report input on Option Activity Summary and Aggregate Intrinsic Value reports.

Granted from - to report input in effect on all reports related to Diluted Options Outstanding in order to accept same input as associated Expense Allocation report.

Option Plan Summary report has a selection related to Expired shares.


Expense Allocation BS Multiple report has been improved related to expense adjustments upon vesting.


Two new reports added related to Aggregate Intrinsic Value for shares outstanding and exercisable, and Intrinsic Value for shares exercised, to give details behind the numbers found on the Option Activity Summary report.


There are new allocation methods for the Expense Allocation reports.

We have improved Straight Line model according to the rule in paragraph 42 of FAS 123R.


We have added Vest Line allocation method that calculates expenses proportionally to the number of shares vested inside reporting period.


There is a new system table Option Vesting Details that stores exact number of shares to vest per each vest date and it is a support to StoxEMPOWER web module.


System task in options related to RSP grants so they can be used along other grants in the Expense Allocation report.


Exercise Details report to help with APIC Pool.


In July 2007 we brought interface to our new product called StoxEMPOWER. It is an on-line employee login system. Please read more here.

There are modifications to the Option Activity Status report for plans that allow non-vested shares to be exercised.


In January 2007 we have added changes to the Expense Allocation report related to expense adjustments - system now reports expense adjustments upon option vesting date, which is to be used to true-up expenses previously reported using the unvested forfeiture rate estimate.


We have improved our binomial valuation model, increased its precision, and added expected term calculation for the model results.


At the end of September 2006, we brought modifications to the report formerly known as Expense Allocation APB25, which now works and calculates expenses both for discounted stock options and restricted stock, using intrinsic value on the grant date.


Forensic Accounting Auto Backup.
In addition to the existing Backup task, it is now possible to automatically save all your data on system exit. System creates date and time stamped backups and allows you to go back in time and choose backup data you want to work on.


Edgar OnLine xml submission has been updated in July 2006.


In order to meet FAS123R requirements for restricted stock, we have modified our Option Activity Summary report, which is used for 10Q reporting - there is a new check box that will report only Restricted Stock.


There are updates to the Expense Allocation reports, with possibility to use estimated forfeiture rate.

There is an additional report that helps you estimate forfeiture rate for unvested shares.

Forecast record now contains two columns - one for Post-vesting termination rate (binomial model input) and unvested Forfeiture rate.


Options Activity Summary report is upgraded for ASC 718 (FAS123R) compliant 10Q reporting - there is modified nonvested roll-forward summary table.

In order to review details for each summary presented at the Option Activity Summary report there are upgrades to the Option Valuation report as well.


There are additional reporting inputs added to the most of Options related reports, which allows more detailed way to select information you want to print.


There are additional Export buttons added to the valuation related reports, which allows you to export reported data into various file formats and use it outside of the Stox software, present it to your external auditors, etc.


In addition to the FAS 123R compliant binomial lattice valuation model,
our latest Easy Options/ESPP Custom (tm) software release allows you to break
Expense Allocation per your company division/department.

FAS 123R compliant valuation model requires two new valuation parameters:
- post-vesting termination rate, specified per year at the valuation forecasts table, and
- suboptimal exercise factor, specified at the option valuation screen.

System provides two reports that, based on historical data, help you to determine these new valuation inputs.

Please note that all releases after 1.45.605 offer improved and fully automatic system upgrade procedure.





* all dates subject to change without a prior notice





 

ONE EZ PRICE of $999 for 4 integrated modules: Options, Valuation / ASC 718 (FAS123R) / Black-Scholes & Binomial, Insider Reporting, ESPP (click here for details)  Call Tony Seker at 877-861-6309 or e-mail ts@ezCustomSoftware.com
 
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