Measured at grant.
Expensed as it vests.
Aleq pulls every grant from your cap table, measures grant-date fair value, and books the compensation expense across the service period — forfeitures and all.
From cap-table grant to monthly expense.
Aleq reads the grant off your cap table, measures it once at the grant date, and spreads the cost over the service period. Below is the senior RSU pool.
The cliff, then every month after.
The pool vests 25% at the one-year cliff, then monthly across the remaining three years. Aleq tracks each tranche, recognizes the expense as service is rendered, and keeps recognized and unrecognized cost reconciled to the share count — so dilution and expense always agree.
A forfeiture, reversed in the period.
When a grantee leaves before vesting, the expense booked on their unvested units has to come back. Aleq catches the termination from your cap table, reverses the cumulative expense on the forfeited units, and adjusts the schedule — no stale comp sitting on the books.
It drafts the assumptions. You set them.
For options the expense turns on assumptions — expected term, volatility, the forfeiture rate, the probability a performance target is met. Aleq drafts each with its basis from peer data and your history, then holds it for your sign-off. The numbers move the charge, so it never sets them alone.
No trading history, so volatility is the median of a seven-company peer set in your stage and sector (48–57%). Expected term uses the simplified method for plain-vanilla options — midpoint of vesting and contractual term.
Every instrument measures differently.
RSUs, options, performance shares, ESPP, cash-settled SARs — the measurement model changes with the award. Aleq runs the right one for each.
Fair value is the share price. Expense is the service.
An RSU's grant-date fair value is simply the share price on the grant date. Aleq spreads it over the requisite service period and books the expense each month — no option model, no exercise to track.
- Grant-date fair value the share price on the grant date.
- Attribution straight-line over the vesting period.
- Forfeitures reversed as they occur, or estimated up front.
Fair value needs a model — and your assumptions.
Options are measured at grant-date fair value under an option-pricing model. Aleq assembles the inputs — expected term, volatility, risk-free rate — drafts the valuation, and holds the assumptions for your sign-off before it expenses over the vesting period.
- Black-Scholes inputs term, volatility, risk-free rate, dividend yield.
- Assumptions drafted with basis, held for your sign-off.
- Expense recognized over the requisite service period.
Vesting depends on an outcome — so does the expense.
Performance awards vest on a target — ARR, an exit, a milestone. Aleq expenses based on the probable outcome for performance conditions, trues up as the estimate moves, and reverses if the target won't be met. Market conditions are baked into the grant-date fair value instead.
- Performance conditions expensed on probable outcome, trued up.
- Market conditions priced into grant-date fair value, no true-up.
- Probability drafted and held for your sign-off.
The discount and the look-back are compensation.
A qualified ESPP with a purchase discount and a look-back is compensatory. Aleq measures the cost — the discount plus the option-like value of the look-back — and recognizes it over the offering period.
- Purchase discount the stated discount off fair value.
- Look-back valued like an option over the offering period.
- Recognition spread across the offering period.
Settled in cash — so it's a liability, remeasured.
Cash-settled stock appreciation rights are liability-classified, not equity. Aleq remeasures them to fair value every period until settlement and runs the change through expense — so the charge moves with your share price.
- Liability classification not equity — it settles in cash.
- Remeasured each period to fair value through settlement.
- Expense moves with the share price every period.
What controllers and auditors ask.
Where do the grants come from?
Aleq syncs grants, vesting schedules, and terminations from your cap table — Carta and the rest — so the expense is driven by the same source of truth your equity team uses, not a re-keyed spreadsheet.
How is grant-date fair value measured?
RSUs at the share price on the grant date; options under an option-pricing model with assumptions Aleq drafts and you confirm; market-condition awards with the condition priced into fair value. The method and inputs are shown for every grant.
How are forfeitures handled?
Aleq reverses the cumulative expense on unvested units when a grantee leaves, or applies an estimated forfeiture rate up front if you've elected to — your policy, applied consistently and disclosed.
Does it handle modifications and repricings?
Yes. A modification is measured as incremental fair value at the modification date and recognized over the remaining service period. Aleq drafts the incremental cost with its basis and holds it for sign-off.
Can it produce the ASC 718 disclosures?
Every period exports the roll-forward of awards, weighted-average fair values, unrecognized cost and remaining period, and the assumption table — tied to the ledger and traced to each grant.
Put your cap table on Aleq.
Connect your equity plan. Watch Aleq measure every grant at fair value, attribute the expense over the service period, handle forfeitures and modifications, and keep the disclosure tied out — assumptions drafted for your sign-off.