Retirement Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Retirement Plans

Retirement Plans

Deferred Compensation Plan

Under the Company’s unfunded amended and restated Bentley Systems, Incorporated Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan (the “DCP”), certain officers and key employees may defer all or any part of their incentive compensation, and the Company may make discretionary awards on behalf of such participants. Elective participant deferrals and discretionary Company awards are received in the form of phantom shares of the Company’s Class B Common Stock, which are valued for tax and accounting purposes in the same manner as actual shares of Class B Common Stock, and are recorded as stock‑based compensation expense in the consolidated statements of operations (see Note 15).

DCP participants’ holdings in phantom shares of the Company’s Class B Common Stock are equity classified as they will be settled in shares of Class B Common Stock upon eventual distribution.

In August 2021, the Company’s board of directors approved an amendment to the DCP, which offered to certain active executives in the DCP a one‑time, short‑term election to reallocate a limited portion of their DCP holdings from phantom shares of the Company’s Class B Common Stock into other phantom investment funds. For further discussion of the aforementioned DCP reallocation, see Note 12 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of the Company’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 10‑K.

DCP participants’ holdings in phantom investment funds and amounts in the DCP attributable to certain non‑colleague participants are classified as liabilities in either Accruals and other current liabilities or Deferred compensation plan liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets as they will be settled in cash upon eventual distribution. The deferred compensation plan liabilities are marked to market at the end of each reporting period, with changes in the liabilities recorded as an expense (income) to Deferred compensation plan in the consolidated statements of operations.

Deferred compensation plan (income) expense was $(5,138) and $167 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, DCP elective participant deferrals were $669 and $854, respectively. No discretionary contributions were made to the DCP during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, phantom shares of the Company’s Class B Common Stock issuable by the DCP were 24,111,988 and 25,384,449, respectively.

The total liabilities related to the DCP is included in the consolidated balance sheets as follows:

	March 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
Accruals and other current liabilities	$	7,779	$	7,309
Deferred compensation plan liabilities	89,282		94,890
Total DCP liabilities	$	97,061	$	102,199