In April 2014, the Company adopted the Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan”), reserving a total of 1,351,000 shares of common stock for grants to employees, officers, directors and consultants. During April 2017, the 2014 Plan was amended whereby an additional 1,500,000 shares of common stock and 100,000 shares of Preferred Stock were added to the plan for future issuance. The name of the 2014 Plan was changed to the Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Plan”). As of September 30, 2017, 1,238,734 shares of common stock and 67,000 shares of Preferred Stock are available for grant. Permissible awards include incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance stock and cash-settled awards and other stock-based awards in the discretion of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors including unrestricted stock grants.

The equity based RSUs contain a provision in which the units shall immediately vest and become converted into common shares at the rate of one common share per RSU, immediately after a change in control, as defined in the award agreement.

During the third quarter of 2017, a total of 200,000 RSUs were granted equally to the four outside members of the Board of directors and a total of 300,000 RSUs were granted equally to three executive officers. The RSUs vest over the next two years, at six month intervals.

The Company recognizes compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the total requisite service period for the entire award. For stock awards classified as equity, the market price of our common or Preferred Stock on the date of grant is used in recording the fair value of the award. For stock awards classified as a liability, the earned amount is marked to market based on the end of period common stock price. The following table summarizes the components of share-based compensation expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016:

The following table summarizes the RSU and restricted stock transactions related to the common stock under the Incentive Plan for the nine months ended September 30, 2017:

Of the total outstanding and unvested at September 30, 2017, 548,334 RSUs and restricted stock awards are classified as equity and 30,135 RSUs are classified as a liability.

The liability for the cash-settled awards was approximately $17,000 and $31,000 at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively, and is included in accrued compensation in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.