Employee compensation and benefits expense increased, approximately 15.9% or $108.7 million in 2014 over 2013. However, that net increase included $81.0 million of compensation costs related to new acquisitions that were stand-alone offices. Therefore, employee compensation and benefits from those offices that existed in the same time periods of 2014 and 2013 increased by $27.7 million. The employee compensation and benefit increases from these offices were primarily related to increases in staff and management salaries of $13.8 million, new salaried producers of $4.8 million, profit center and other related bonuses of $6.7 million, compensation to our commissioned producers of $0.9 million and health insurance costs of $4.8 million. These increases were partially offset by net reductions in temporary employees, employer 401(k) plan matching contributions and accrued vacation expense. Employee compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of total revenues was 50.2% as compared to 50.1% for the year ended December 31, 2013. This slight increase was driven by continued investment in new teammates.
The Company has an employee stock purchase plan, grants non-vested stock awards, and to a lesser extent grants stock options under other equity-based plans to its employees. Compensation expense for all share-based awards is recognized in the financial statements based upon the grant-date fair value of those awards. For 2015, 2014 and 2013, the non-cash stock-based compensation expense incorporated the costs related to each of the Company’s four stock-based plans as explained in Note 11 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
We hold approximately $17.2 million in cash outside of the U.S. for which we have no plans to repatriate in the near future.
In September 2015, FASB issued ASU No. 2015-16, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments” (“ASU 2015-16”), which requires that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. ASU 2015-16 is effective for fiscal years, and interim reporting periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company has determined that the impact of the adoption of this guidance on the Consolidated Financial Statements would not be material.
In April 2015, FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, “Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs” (“ASU 2015-03”), which requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of
The Company has an Employee Savings Plan (401(k)) in which substantially all employees with more than 30 days of service are eligible to participate. Under this plan, Brown & Brown makes matching contributions of up to 4.0% of each participant’s annual compensation. Prior to 2014, the Company’s matching contribution was up to 2.5% of each participant’s annual compensation with a discretionary profit-sharing contribution each year, which equaled 1.5% of each eligible employee’s compensation. The Company’s contributions to the plan totaled $17.8 million in 2015, $15.8 million in 2014, and $14.8 million in 2013.