Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. I'm super grateful and appreciative.
@Zenith63
I looked at doing this while a similar size and was told by other business owners that share option schemes etc were too complex/costly for small companies to setup.
@Steven Barrett
This may be a case where the company isn't big enough to justify the cost of setting up such a scheme for its staff.
My impression is that both of the above are (still) true. So far I've received informal cost estimates
in the range EUR 5,000 to EUR 10,000 for accountancy fees and unmentioned extra EUR 1000s for solicitor
fees for implementing a share scheme--i.e. these appear to be the entry costs for the most micro, micro
company. There's also an impression of untold, hidden costs for finishing the job.
Coming from the world of software development, where everyone, including direct competitors, is accustomed
to freely providing each other with problem solving help, it's difficult to see that such a commonplace
and relatively simple endeavour as setting up a share scheme for a micro company should have such an
expensive entry point.
While there is theoretically an infinite number of special circumstances which could be provided for in
a share scheme agreement, e.g. a shareholder leaves the company before the vesting date or event, or dies,
or becomes mentally incapacitated, or causes the death of another shareholder, or kills their cat, or
embezzles money or goods from the company, or is found to be fond of eating stuffed mice, or slips on a
pavement, or is working with a false name, or fiat money becomes worthless, or the sun fails arise in the
East, and so on and on, extending to an agreement longer than War and Peace, a practical agreement can
only address a set of realistically-common circumstances.
A practical agreement will almost wholly comprise boiler plate text. The parties to the agreement may
change some of the boilerplate text subject to mutual agreement. After that point it's probably a good
idea to ask an accountant and/or solicitor to review the agreement.
There's no doubt accountants and solicitors can and do provide real value in many situations. (Several
provide helpful info in this forum.) However the entry price for setting up a share scheme for a micro
company, along with inability of the customer to know whether the service provider has actually done it
before, is not one of them IMO. It seems an example of economic rent seeking directly opposed to the
efficient operation of an economy. This could be said of some software companies too :-(.
I know this is very far from being one of the big social or economic issues of the day.
By now it's obvious I'm ignorant and prone to drawing wildly illogical conclusions.
I'll keep looking for a less costly route, ideally involving less condescension than heretofore. The
reality may be that there are indeed very few small companies that have implemented KEEP or other share
schemes. revenue.ie and citizensinformation.ie both provide good basic info.
For anyone interested, the main revenue.ie documentation is here:
It's very good. But it does not include templates for share agreements.
Many thanks again.
Rick
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