Share-Based Compensation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

The amount of compensation cost for share-based awards recognized during a period is based on the portion of the awards that are ultimately expected to vest. The Company estimates forfeitures at the time of grant and revises those estimates in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. The Company analyzes historical data to estimate pre-vesting forfeitures and records share-based compensation expense for those awards expected to vest.

Total share-based compensation expenses were comprised as follows (in thousands):



	Three months ended June 30,				Six months ended June 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
Option awards	$	6,801	$	6,758	$	8,113	$	9,815
Other share-based awards	14,839		13,847		24,457		19,736
Total share-based compensation before tax	21,640		20,605		32,570		29,551
Tax benefit	5,151		4,904		7,752		7,033
Total share-based compensation expense included in net income	$	16,489	$	15,701	$	24,818	$	22,518

In addition to the above share-based compensation expenses, Polaris sponsors a qualified non-leveraged employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Shares allocated to eligible participants’ accounts vest at various percentage rates based on years of service and require no cash payments from the recipient.

At June 30, 2019, there was $131,363,000 of total unrecognized share-based compensation expense related to unvested share-based equity awards. Unrecognized share-based compensation expense is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.67 years. Included in unrecognized share-based compensation expense is approximately $36,651,000 related to stock options and $94,712,000 for restricted stock.