Note 15.  Employee Benefit Plans

 

Employees’ Stock Ownership Plan

 

Prior to 2014, the First Busey Corporation Employees’ Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) was available to all full-time employees who met certain age and length of service requirements.  Effective for 2014, the ESOP was frozen, all shares were fully vested and there will be no new contributions under the ESOP.  Dividends on allocated shares of common stock are distributed directly to the participants.  All shares held by the ESOP, which were acquired prior to the issuance of FASB ASC Topic 718-40, “Employee Stock Ownership Plans” (ASC 718-40), are included in the computation of average common shares and common share equivalents. This accounting treatment is grandfathered under ASC 718-40 for shares purchased prior to December 31, 1992.

 

All shares held in the ESOP which were acquired prior to December 31, 1992 were allocated as of December 31, 2006.  The number of shares and associated fair values were 479,755 worth $3.1 million and 543,471 worth $3.2 million at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

 

Shares held in the ESOP which were acquired after December 31, 1992 and associated fair values were 171,988 worth $1.1 million and 192,171 worth $1.1 million at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

 

Profit Sharing Plan

 

All full-time employees who meet certain age and service requirements are eligible to participate in the Company’s profit-sharing plan. The contributions, if any, are determined solely by the boards of directors of the Company and its subsidiaries, and in no case may the annual contributions be greater than the amounts deductible for federal income tax purposes for that year.

 

The rights of the participants vest ratably over a five-year period, except for the 401(k) match portion, which vests immediately. Expenses related to the employee benefit plans are included in the statements of income as follows:

 

 

The Company sponsors deferred compensation plans for executive officers for deferral of compensation. While current participants in the deferred compensation plan are permitted to continue participating in the plan, it is no longer open to new participants.  The deferred compensation expense reported was $0.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012. The deferred compensation liability was $5.1 million at December 31, 2014, $4.8 million at December 31, 2013, and $4.5 million at December 31, 2012.