Financial Planning
Equity Refresh Grants: Build a Multiple-Grant Vesting Calendar
Combine an original grant and an additional refresher in one calendar without resetting older terms or promising future awards.
What you will learn
- Combine two award schedules without changing either grant.
- Distinguish cumulative vested quantities from new vesting each period.
- Keep an unapproved refresher separate from confirmed compensation.
An equity refresh grant adds another schedule; it does not automatically extend or reset an older grant. Build one row per award, preserve each award’s own terms, then combine their quantities by period. Keep a proposed refresher outside the confirmed total until its status is clear.
Use two clocks, not one average
Record each grant’s service start, cliff, interval, quantity and final event. FINRA’s award guidance emphasizes checking the applicable schedule. A company may choose a different schedule for a later award, and the existence of a refresher elsewhere does not establish your eligibility.
Also identify the unit. The example below combines options covering the same class of stock. Do not add cash-settled units, different classes or different conversion ratios as though they were identical shares.
Work an original grant plus refresher
Fictional terms: Grant A covers 48,000 shares over 48 months, beginning at month 0. It has a 12-month cliff, then 1,000 shares vest each completed month. Grant B is an additional 14,400-share award starting at month 24, with a 12-month cliff and 36-month total schedule. Its cliff at month 36 releases 4,800 shares;400 vest each later month through month 60. Assume continuous service and no other conditions.
Two schedules, one cumulative view
| Global month | Grant A vested | Grant B vested | Combined vested |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 23,000 | 0 | 23,000 |
| 24 | 24,000 | 0 | 24,000 |
| 35 | 35,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 36 | 36,000 | 4,800 | 40,800 |
| 48 | 48,000 | 9,600 | 57,600 |
| 60 | 48,000 | 14,400 | 62,400 |
At month 36, Grant B has completed 12 of its own 36 months. Grant A has completed 36 of 48. Using one blended “percent vested” hides that distinction. The combined lifetime quantity is 62,400, not a new grant of 62,400 with a restarted clock.
Look at new vesting, not just the growing total
The month 36 increase is 5,800 shares:1,000 from A plus B’s 4,800-share cliff. At month 48 the normal increase is 1,400. After A finishes, the next month’s increase is only 400. A cumulative chart still rises, but the rate changes sharply.
Cumulative and period measures answer different questions
| Question | Useful measure | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| What has satisfied the schedule so far? | Cumulative vested quantity by grant | Treating the total as cash received |
| What is scheduled to vest next? | Incremental quantity during that period | Subtracting incompatible unit types |
| When does the original award finish? | Grant A’s own end date | Assuming B resets A |
Show proposed awards as scenarios
If Grant B is only a discussion, create a second scenario called “proposed refresher” rather than adding it to the confirmed calendar. Record the open approval, quantity and schedule questions. Do not infer a future grant from a manager’s encouraging comment.
The option-pool lesson owns the separate company reserve-sizing problem. This worksheet only reads and combines awards. It does not allocate the pool or recommend a refresh amount.
Test the calendar before comparing compensation
- Every award retains its own source version and commencement date.
- Cliff releases are not counted twice.
- Each grant’s lifetime total equals its stated quantity.
- Incremental and cumulative columns are visibly different.
- Exercises, settlement and resale are not inferred from vesting.
- Unapproved awards remain a separately labeled scenario.
A source-linked cap-table review can resolve mismatched company records; this calendar is not the authoritative ledger.
Keep the next conversation grounded
Save the permitted grant summary and calendar in Finta Documents. Ask Aurora to help explain the upcoming changes and collect unanswered questions for the company team. Confirm the actual award terms before using the calendar to assess an offer or plan a transaction.
Finta Field Guide. By Finta Editorial Team. Sources checked November 14, 2026. Examples are original, fictional teaching cases, not customer results or individualized legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.