(Employee exercising of stock options increases a firm's total shares outstanding ; companies often buy back shares to offset such dilution, but that absorbs money that otherwise could have been used to pay a dividend or be reinvested in the company's core business.) Noting that corporate cash balances as a percentage of assets are the highest they've been since World War II, Zlotnikov predicted "the use of corporate cash flows and the disciplined use of cash flow" will be the "single most important controversy" over the next few years. Todd Ahlsten, manager of the ( PRBLX ) Parnassus Equity Income fund, said his firm already pays careful attention to whether a given company's stock buyback plan actually reduces its net shares outstanding, or merely offsets the dilution from generous stock options grants. For example, Parnassus found that Intel ( INTC ) bought back a net $16.9 billion in stock between 1999 and 2003, equivalent to 9.3% of the company based on the current share count.