(17) Valuation and Qualifying Accounts  (18) Stock Plans  The Company has established a share compensation plan that provides certain employees options to purchase shares of its common stock. The options vest over a period of five years from the date of grant. Options are exercisable during the term of employment or consulting a rrangements with the Company and its subsidiaries. At December 31, 2000, the Company has authorized options for the purchase of 6,463,991 shares of common shares, of which 4,584,508 have been awarded to employees and 2,441,928 remain unexercised.  In accordance with a shareholders’ agreement dated Febru a ry 15, 1996 and amended on October 14, 1996, Euronet re s e rved 2,850,925 common shares for the purpose of awarding common shares (“milestone awards”) to certain investors and options to acquire common share s (“milestone options”) to the founders, management and key employees. The Company granted 800,520 milestone awards at an exerc i s e price of $0.02 per share and 2,050,405 milestone options at an exercise price of $2.14 per share.  Upon the initial public offering of the Company on March 6, 1997, all milestone awards and milestone options granted under the milestone a rrangement (with the exception of 49,819 options to certain key employees which vested equally over the two years following the initial public offering) vested and all shares became immediately issuable to beneficiaries of milestone awards and options. At that time, 800,520 milestone awards and 232,078 milestone options were exercised. As of December 31, 2000 1,428,303 milestone options remain unexercised.  S h a re option activity during the periods indicated is as follows: Number of  We i g h t e d - Av e r a g e S h a res  E x e rcise Price Balance at December 31, 1997  (1,984,365 shares exerc i s a b l e ) 2 , 7 9 8 , 2 06 . $ 2 . 6 7 G r a n t e d 9 4 1 , 3 96 . 5 . 8 7 Granted in Arksys acquisition 6 3 , 4 10 . 4 . 4 4 E x e rc i s e d ( 8 0 , 1 3 2 ) 2 . 1 3 F o rf e i t e d ( 1 0 0 , 2 8 9 ) 6 . 2 3 Balance at December 31, 1998  (2,174,412 shares exerc i s a b l e ) 3 , 6 2 2 , 5 91 . $ 3 . 4 6 G r a n t e d 1 , 1 4 0 , 8 30 . 5 . 0 2 E x e rc i s e d ( 2 2 8 , 5 0 3 ) 1 . 4 6 F o rf e i t e d ( 2 3 3 , 1 9 4 ) 5 . 0 9 Balance at December 31, 1999  (2,379,729 shares exerc i s a b l e ) 4 , 3 0 1 , 7 2 4 . $ 3 . 8 7 G r a n t e d 1 , 2 3 7 , 0 0 0 . 7 . 2 4 E x e rc i s e d ( 3 9 0 , 2 3 1 ) 2 . 4 3 F o rf e i t e d ( 5 6 3 , 9 8 5 ) 6 . 0 0 Balance at December 31, 2000  (2,441,928 shares exerc i s a b l e ) 4 , 5 8 4 , 5 0 8. $ 4 . 6 5 A d d i t i o n s B a l a n c e c h a rged to A m o u n t s Balance at at January 1 e x p e n s e written off December 31 (in thousands) 1 9 9 8 Allowance for doubtful accounts $ — $ 2 9 1 $ — $ 2 9 1 1 9 9 9 Allowance for doubtful accounts $ 2 9 1 $ 9 0 $ — $ 3 8 1 2 0 0 0 Allowance for doubtful accounts $ 3 8 1 $ 4 0 8 $ 4 9 $ 7 4 0 3 9