SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

We maintain one share-based compensation plan for our employees, Board of Directors and non-employees (comprised of independent contractor financial advisors). The 2012 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”) permits us to grant share-based and cash-based awards designed to be exempt from the limitation on deductible compensation under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. In our 2015 Form 10-K, our share-based compensation accounting policies are described in Note 2 on page 117. Other information relating to our employee and Board of Director share-based awards are outlined in our 2015 Form 10-K in Note 24, on pages 175 – 178, while Note 25 on pages 178 – 180 discusses our non-employee share-based awards. For purposes of this report, we have combined our presentation of both our employee and Board of Director share-based awards with our non-employee share-based awards.

Stock option awards

Expense and income tax benefits related to our stock options awards granted to employees, members of our Board of Directors and independent contractor financial advisors are presented below:



	Three months ended March 31,				Six months ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
	(in thousands)
Total share-based expense	$	1,360	$	2,571	$	5,072	$	5,688
Income tax benefit related to share-based expense	—		250		434		626

For the six months ended March 31, 2016, we realized $2 million of cumulative excess tax benefits related to our stock option awards.

During the three months ended March 31, 2016, we granted 13,100 stock options to employees and no stock options were granted to our independent contractor financial advisors. During the six months ended March 31, 2016, we granted 345,823 stock options to employees and 47,000 stock options were granted to our independent contractor financial advisors.

Unrecognized pre-tax expense for stock option awards granted to employees, members of our Board of Directors, and independent contractor financial advisors, net of estimated forfeitures, and the remaining period over which the expense will be recognized as of March 31, 2016, are presented below:



	Unrecognized pre-tax expense		Remaining weighted- average amortization period
	(in thousands)		(in years)
Employees and members of our Board of Directors	$	23,846	3.06
Independent contractor financial advisors	939		3.27

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of stock option awards granted to employees for the three and six months ended March 31, 2016 was $9.95 and $13.97, respectively.

The fair value of each option awarded to our independent contractor financial advisors is estimated on the date of grant and periodically revalued using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The weighted-average fair value for outstanding stock options granted to independent contractor financial advisors as of March 31, 2016 was $11.83.

Restricted stock and restricted stock unit awards

Expense and income tax benefits related to our restricted equity awards (which include restricted stock and restricted stock units) granted to employees, members of our Board of Directors, and independent contractor financial advisors are presented below:



	Three months ended March 31,				Six months ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
	(in thousands)
Total share-based expense	$	16,911	$	14,189	$	34,820	$	33,155
Income tax benefit related to share-based expense	6,006		5,038		12,375		11,900

For the six months ended March 31, 2016, we realized $32.8 million of cumulative excess tax benefits related to our restricted equity awards.

During the three and six months ended March 31, 2016, we granted 113,746 and 1,205,180 restricted stock units to employees, respectively. During the three and six months ended March 31, 2016, we granted 24,292 and 24,840 restricted stock units to outside members of our Board of Directors, respectively. We did not grant any restricted stock units to our independent contractor financial advisors during the three and six months ended March 31, 2016.

Unrecognized pre-tax expense for restricted equity awards granted to employees, members of our Board of Directors and independent contractor financial advisors, net of estimated forfeitures, and the remaining period over which the expense will be recognized as of March 31, 2016, are presented below:



	Unrecognized pre-tax expense		Remaining weighted- average amortization period
	(in thousands)		(in years)
Employees and members of our Board of Directors	$	117,729	3.00
Independent contractor financial advisors	15		0.62

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of restricted stock unit awards granted to employees and outside members of our Board of Directors for the three and six months ended March 31, 2016 were $45.70 and $56.28, respectively.

The fair value of each restricted equity award to our independent contractor financial advisors is computed on the date of grant and periodically revalued at the current stock price. The fair value for unvested restricted equity awards granted to independent contractor financial advisors as of March 31, 2016 was $47.61 per unit.