Certification / Certification Date | Payprweight Education

Certification is the point after a performance period ends when the board or compensation committee formally confirms actual performance results and applies the resulting Performance Multiplier.

Overview

What is it:

Certification is the point after a performance period ends when the board or compensation committee formally confirms actual performance results and applies the resulting Performance Multiplier. Certification doesn't happen immediately: plan documents typically set an outer deadline, commonly somewhere between 60 and 120 days after the performance period ends. Certification usually happens at a scheduled committee meeting that falls within that window. Vesting and share delivery for a PSU happen shortly after certification, not on the performance period's own end date.

Why does it matter:

This step, not the calendar end of the performance period, is what actually determines when a PSU grant resolves into vested shares. Certification is also the point at which the compensation committee could, if their plan reserves that right, exercise negative discretion to adjust the very number certification just confirmed.

What do people most often get wrong:

People often assume the performance period's end date is also the vesting date. Certification is a separate, later step, and until it happens, no multiplier has actually been applied and no shares have been earned, even though the performance window itself has closed.