During 2000, 1999 and 1998, employees of the Company participated in 401( k) retirement plans sponsored by the Company. For the years ended December 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998, the Company recorded compensation expense of $1.6 million, $1.3 million and $1.2 million, respectively, related to the plans.

14. Income Taxes

Income before income taxes were derived from the following:

The provisions for income taxes follow:

Deferred tax assets (liabilities) are comprised of the following:

No provision has been made for U.S. federal deferred income taxes on approximately $4 million of accumulated and undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries at December 31, 2000, since these earnings are considered to be permanently invested in foreign operations.

A reconciliation of income tax expense at the statutory rate to income tax expense included in the accompanying consolidated statements of income follows:

Cash paid for income taxes was $15.7 million, $17.8 million and $22.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998, respectively.

15. Capital Stock

In 2000, the Company granted key employees and non-employee directors 14,052 restricted shares of common stock with a value of $0.2 million on the grant date. The shares vest over a three year period. In 1999, the Company granted key employees and non-employee directors 70,260 restricted shares of common stock with a value of $1.0 million on the grant date. The shares vest over a three to five year period with 11,016 shares of the restricted stock vesting over a three year period, 32,180 shares vesting over a four year period and 27,064 shares vesting over a five year period. A total of 18,000 shares of restricted stock were forfeited in 2000 and 1999.