Employee Share Ownership Plans: How to Design and Implement an ESOP in Canada

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Perry Phillips, president of the specialist firm ESOP Builders Inc., has
written a book that sets out to explain “every aspect of designing and
implementing ESOPs (Employee Share Ownership Plans).”

The book is divided into 10 chapters, with subheadings and
sub-subheadings provided in each for ease of reference. The chapter
titled “What Is an ESOP?,” for example, contains three subheads
(“Three Types of ESOPs,” “The Importance of Equity Types,” and
“Conclusion”) and three sub-subheads (“Stock Equity,” “Stock
Options,” and “Phantom Stock”). The author covers ESOP objectives
and design, finance, valuations, income tax impacts, legal requirements,
and administration, among other topics. Included in the book’s nine
appendixes are case studies,

an extensive sample questionnaire, frequently asked questions, and a
model shareholders’ agreement.

Comprehensive and well written (if necessarily technical at times),
this book will appeal to employers, administrators, and financial
personnel involved in the design, implementation, and maintenance of
ESOPs.