Note I – Incentive Plans

The costs resulting from all share-based and cash-based incentive plans 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 2017 Annual Incentive Plan (2017 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 certain other employees. Cash awards under the 2017 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 2018 Long-Term Incentive Plan (2018 Long-Term Plan) authorizes the Committee to make grants of the Company’s Common Stock 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 2018 Long-Term Plan expires in 2028. A total of 6,750,000 shares are issuable during the life of the 2018 Long-Term Plan, with annual grants limited to 1% of Common shares outstanding; allowed shares not granted in an earlier year may be granted in future years.

The Company also has a Stock Plan for Non-Employee Directors that permits the issuance of restricted stock, restricted stock units and stock options or a combination thereof to the Company’s Non-Employee Directors.

In the first quarter of 2019, the Committee granted 957,600 performance-based RSUs and 327,900 time-based RSUs to certain employees. The fair value of the performance-based RSUs, using a Monte Carlo valuation model, was $28.09 per unit. The fair value of the time-based RSUs was estimated based on the fair market value of the Company’s stock on the date of grant. The fair value of the time-based RSUs granted was $28.16 per unit. Additionally, in February 2019, the Committee granted 1,025,900 cash-settled RSUs (CRSU) to certain employees. The CRSUs are to be settled in cash, net of applicable income taxes, and are accounted for as liability-type awards. The initial fair value of the CRSUs granted in February 2019 was $28.16. Also in February, the Committee granted 78,716 shares of time-based RSUs to the Company’s non-employee Directors under the 2018 Stock Plan for Non-Employee Directors. These units are scheduled to vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant. The estimated fair value of these awards was $27.95 per unit on date of grant.

All stock option exercises are non-cash transactions for the Company. The employee receives net shares, after applicable withholding taxes, upon each stock option exercise. The actual income tax benefit realized from the tax deductions related to stock option exercises of the share-based payment arrangements were immaterial for the three-month period ended March 31, 2019.

Amounts recognized in the financial statements with respect to share-based plans are shown in the following table:



	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(Thousands of dollars)		2019	2018
Compensation charged against income before tax benefit	$	15,514	7,549
Related income tax benefit recognized in income		2,342	894

Certain incentive compensation granted to the Company’s named executive officers, to the extent their total compensation exceeds $1.0 million per executive per year, is not eligible for a U.S. income tax deduction under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017 Tax Act).