The Association of British Insurers held the view that options should be exercised only if the company’s earnings per share growth exceeded that of the retail price index. The National Association of Pension Funds preferred the criterion to be a company's outperformance of the FTA All-Share Index.

(a) Discuss the reasons for the differences in approach.

(b) Discuss the implication of each approach to the financial reporting regulators and the auditors.