This sample policy can be used by auditors to understand and review the essential components of an organization’s employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) process.

In this sample, once an employee is part of the program, they do not have to enroll again; once funds have been withheld from payroll, they cannot be reimbursed to the employee except in the case of termination; an HR representative reviews the ESPP enrollment for completeness and eligibility; the HR representative emails a list of any newly enrolled employees to corporate financial reporting; and the financial analyst creates online equity administrator accounts for the newly enrolled employees.