Planning for Payouts: Build Your ESOP's Liquidity Playbook in Real Time

Many ESOP companies complete repurchase obligation (RO) studies but stop short of the next step: creating written policies to guide how cash and investments will actually be managed. In this session, you won’t just hear why it matters—you’ll roll up your sleeves and start drafting the governance document NCEO has been urging companies to adopt: an investment policy statement (IPS).

Together we will work through guided exercises, drafting key sections of an IPS in real time, while also gaining a clear understanding of the full document and how to complete it after the session. The IPS is the governance document that defines how all company cash and investments are managed. It brings repurchase obligations into the same framework as operating expenditures, capital spending, reserves, and long-term strategy.

As you draft, short peer exchanges and micro-discussions will allow you to compare approaches, hear how others are tackling the same challenges, and spark new ideas for your own plan.

The session concludes by showing how the IPS you begin here fits into a broader governance framework: the liquidity governance plan (LGP). Broader than investments alone, the LGP translates RO forecasts into a documented plan covering cash reserves, credit strategy, and monitoring cadence—a plan boards, trustees, and outside advisors can review as evidence of forward-thinking management. Participants will leave with written progress on their own IPS, a complete IPS template to finish later, and an LGP framework to guide next steps.

Learning outcomes:
• Understand how a written IPS documents prudent, disciplined rules for managing cash and investments, providing clarity and consistency.
• Recognize that boards, trustees, and other stakeholders increasingly expect written policies as a part of proper ESOP financial governance.
• Draft key sections of an IPS during the session, customized to your company’s needs.
• Gain clarity on the remaining IPS sections and how to complete them.
• Leave with both IPS progress and a LGP framework to expand into a full governance plan.

This session is a true workshop: active, collaborative, and solutions-oriented. Rather than passively listening, you’ll actively work through the IPS drafting process and leave with practical tools your leadership team can build on immediately.

NCEO Resource: Repurchase Obligation Toolkit
NCEO Publication: The ESOP Repurchase Obligation Handbook