Ownership changes
Exercise options and issue certificates
Record option exercises, issue missing exercise certificates, review early exercise, and cancel remaining options in Cap Table.
On this page
Open the grant’s lifecycle actions
In Securities, find the option grant and open its lifecycle actions. Review vested and unexercised quantities, expiration, any departure deadline, and whether early exercise is allowed. Choose Record exercise.
Enter a whole-number quantity and the actual exercise date. The app checks the award’s available quantity and what could be exercised on that date. Use the underlying exercise notice and payment records to reconcile the result.
Review the certificate and cost
The exercise form can also issue the share certificate. Review the selected class and the exercise cost, calculated from quantity and strike. If there are no share classes, the workflow can create Common Stock; review its authorization afterward.
Keeping Also issue the share certificate selected records the exercise and linked certificate together. If you record the exercise without a certificate, those quantities remain represented on the grant side of the fully diluted count until a certificate represents them.
For example, exercising 5,000 options at $1.20 records $6,000 of exercise consideration. It creates 5,000 shares when the certificate is issued; the app does not collect the money.
Issue a missing certificate without another exercise
Choose Issue exercise certificate for quantities already recorded as exercised. Enter the quantity covered, original exercise date, and class. This supplies the linked certificate without increasing the exercised counter again.
Check that the remaining uncertified quantity decreases and that the certificate appears under the intended holder. Form 3921 uses dated ISO exercise certificates, so an exercise entered only as a grant counter is insufficient for that report.
Review early exercise and cancellation separately
An early exercise can include unvested options when the grant allows it. The resulting certificate carries reverse vesting. Review its schedule and the applicable 83(b) records; recording the exercise does not file an election.
Cancel grant records cancelled units and a cancellation date. Review the proposed quantity and recycling destination. Unvested forfeiture and cancellation of expired, vested options have different effects on expense and ownership. Use the expiry or departure workflow when that is the actual event. Retain the original grant and review History after saving.