The first global survey of employee share schemes has found Australia lagging well behind the US and advanced economies of Europe, and also New Zealand.
The findings of the survey, which was spearheaded by tax partner Shaun Cartoon, assisted by lawyer Eileen Liu, were unveiled this week at the 25th Annual Conference of the Global Equity Organisation in Nashville.
Conducted by a team of global equity compensations specialists from Arnold Bloch Leibler, Baker McKenzie (US & Netherlands), KPMG (US) & Tapestry Compliance (UK), issuers (Lucid Motors) and academics from Rutgers University, the survey measured operating environments across 26 countries for employers adopting, and employees participating in, employee share schemes.
In an interview with SKY Business editor Ross Greenwood, Shaun described the research as the "Olympics of employee share schemes", which had found Australia languishing around the middle of the pack.
Asked why this was the case, Shaun highlighted Australia's "tortuously complex" tax rules and historic regulatory constraints on unlisted companies in scaling up their share plans. "Tax incentives are particularly important - they dominate decision-making within companies around how these arrangements are designed for employees," he said.
To watch the SKY Business interview, click here.
To read the GEO report on employee share schemes, click here.
