Note G – Incentive Plans

The costs resulting from all share-based payment transactions are recognized as an expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations using a fair value-based measurement method over the periods that the awards vest.

The 2012 Annual Incentive Plan (2012 Annual Plan) authorizes the Executive Compensation Committee (the Committee) to establish specific performance goals associated with annual cash awards that may be earned by officers, executives and other key employees. Cash awards under the 2012 Annual Plan are determined based on the Company’s actual financial and operating results as measured against the performance goals established by the Committee. The 2012 Long-Term Incentive Plan (2012 Long-Term Plan) authorizes the Committee to make grants of the Company’s Common Stock and other stock-based incentives to employees. These grants may be in the form of stock options (nonqualified or incentive), stock appreciation rights (SAR), restricted stock, restricted stock units (RSU), performance units, performance shares, dividend equivalents and other stock-based incentives. The 2012 Long-Term Plan expires in 2022. A total of 8,700,000 shares are issuable during the life of the 2012 Long-Term Plan, with annual grants limited to 1% of Common shares outstanding. The Company has an Employee Stock Purchase Plan that permits the issuance of up to 980,000 shares through September 30, 2017. The Company also has a Stock Plan for Non-Employee Directors that permits the issuance of restricted stock and stock options or a combination thereof to the Company’s Directors.

In February 2016, the Committee granted stock options for 862,000 shares at an exercise price of $17.57 per share. The Black-Scholes valuation for these awards was $5.03 per option. The Committee also granted 394,000 performance-based RSU and 417,500 time-based RSU in February and April 2016. The fair value of the performance-based RSU, using a Monte Carlo valuation model, ranged from $12.21 to $16.34 per unit. The fair values of time-based RSU was estimated based on the fair market value of the Company’s stock on the date of grant, which ranged from $17.57 to 24.075 per share. Additionally, the Committee granted 708,200 SAR and 507,470 units of cash-settled RSU (RSU-C) to certain employees in 2016. The SAR and RSU-C are to be settled in cash, net of applicable income taxes, and are accounted for as liability-type awards. The initial fair value of these SAR was equivalent to the stock options granted, while the initial value of RSU-C was equivalent to equity-settled restricted stock units granted. Also in February 2016, the Committee granted 85,679 shares of time-based RSU to the Company’s Directors under the Non-employee Director Plan. These shares vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant. The estimated fair value of these awards was $19.26 per unit on date of grant.

Amounts recognized in the financial statements with respect to share-based plans are as follows:



	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
(Thousands of dollars)		2016	2015
Compensation charged against income before tax benefit	$	35,948	30,722
Related income tax benefit recognized		11,796	9,046