San Juan Corporation established a stock option plan that provides for cash payments to employees based on the appreciation of stock prices from an established threshold price. The plan was instituted on January 1, 2013, and provides benefits to employees who work for the succeeding three years. Cash payments to employees will be made on January 1, 2016, and will equal the excess of the stock price over the threshold price on that date. In total, 15,000 of these cash stock appreciation rights (SARs) were granted to employees.
The threshold price established for the SARs is $10 per share. The estimated fair value of each SAR on selected dates in 2013-2015 was as follows:
December 31, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 6
December 31, 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 10
December 31, 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Prepare the journal entries on San Juan's books for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 related to this plan.