Executive Compensation - Equilar CEO BlogExecutive Compensation - Equilar CEO BlogWe at Equilar take pride in offering thoughtful and independent analysis on executive compensation trends that we are seeing in the marketplace. Through my blog, I will highlight interesting trends and practices that we are seeing in our research and Articles
Good Times for CFOs
2008-06-06 00:44:00 As some of you may have read in our May newsletter, we performed an analysis of S&P 500 CFO pay trends. Beginning in 2007, companies were required to disclose the pay of not only their CEO but also their CFO as part of their Top 5. As a result, we now have two ... More About: Times , Good , Good Times
Survey 2.0
2008-05-28 21:25:00 I just returned from WorldatWork’s annual conference in Philadelphia. For those not familiar with WorldatWork (formerly known as The American Compensation Association), they are the world’s largest association for compensation and benefits professionals with over 25,000 members. We first exhibited at WorldatWork in 2002 and have been attending ever since. Ironically, at ... More About: General , Survey
A New Frontier
2008-05-10 00:13:00 Earlier this week, we announced our first foray into the survey industry, a very big step in our corporate evolution. During our eight year history, access to data has never been an issue, whether for us, or for any of our competitors. Our solutions have been based on publicly available data, primarily ... More About: Frontier
To Disclose or Not to Disclose? That is the Question?
2008-05-01 21:13:00 As one would expect, the past couple of weeks have been extremely busy for yours truly. In addition to my regular CEO duties, one area that goes into overdrive this time of the year is the presentation circuit. April included trips to the Conference Board (twice), MCA, ICG and Stanford Law School, not ... More About: Question , Disclose
It?s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
2008-04-15 21:11:00 As the son of an accountant, I was conditioned from a very early age to expect March and April to be busy times of the year. My dad, who is a partner in a boutique accounting firm in New York City, worked late nights and weekends each tax season. While I didn’t follow in my ... More About: Time , Wonderful , Year
Street Signs
2008-03-24 17:34:00 One area of executive compensation that has received a tremendous amount of attention over the past year is the disclosure of performance targets. While many companies disclose metrics, it’s less common to see companies include their actual targets/goals in their CD&As. Last year, we found that 44.4% of Fortune 100 companies disclosed annual incentive plan performance targets for their executives with varying levels of specificity. As we enter proxy season, I’ve had the pleasure of reading the CD&As (lucky me!) of early filers and came across one that I found especially interesting. In American Electric Power’s CD&A, they included their Wall Street earnings estimates and how the calculation of an executive’s bonus is tied to EPS performance: Annual Performance Objectives: In February 2007 the HR Committee established AEP’s 2007 ongoing earnings guidance of $2.85- $3.05 per share as the funding measure for AEP’s annual incentive comp... More About: Signs , Street signs
Take That!
2008-03-14 17:11:00 Take Two Interactive (TTWO) recently adopted a broad-based severance plan for all of its employees. While on the surface the arrangement sounds similar to Yahoo!’s, there are several key differences which I asked Derek and Alex to summarize below for everyone. If you choose to read the 8-Ks, you’ll find TTWO’s disclosure provides ... More About: Severance
When Pac-Man Calls?
2008-02-26 17:59:00 With another hostile offer launched earlier this week by Electronic Arts (our next door neighbor) who is attempting to acquire Take Two Interactive, I wanted to highlight how companies in play have made changes to their executive compensation plans. Most recently, the New York Times wrote about how Yahoo! approved severance programs for not only ... More About: Calls , Severance
Director Pay Cuts
2008-02-23 00:02:00 Setting director pay is probably one of the more awkward decisions for board members. No matter how you slice it, there will always be a conflict of interest. As one would expect, with increased responsibilities, scrutiny and exposure, director pay continues to increase. However, as part of a recent client project, we identified ... More About: Cuts , Director
What?s on the Horizon?
2008-02-08 21:01:00 As we enter February, we’re only weeks away from the upcoming proxy season. With a year of the new SEC rules under our belt (can you believe it’s only been a year?), 2008 will be the time where we’ll be able to perform year-over-year comparisons on executive pay under the new system. I ... More About: General , Horizon
PracticesInsight - Just in Time Relief for Drafting Your Next Proxy
2007-12-14 03:37:00 We’re expecting the 2008 proxy season to be especially interesting for two reasons. First, 2008 will be the first year where we have consecutive years of compensation data under the new SEC rules. Based on typical investor expectations surrounding the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section, will companies discuss year-over-year compensation changes in ... More About: Time , Relief , Proxy , Just in time
Perks - Eating their lunch ? literally
2007-12-07 02:43:00 Since my last posting on perks, we came across two more interesting ones that I wanted to share. FYI, for those who are or hope to become a board member some day. Enjoy! Rare Hospitality International - “Non-employee directors also receive an allowance of $400 per fiscal month for dining at the Company’s restaurants, ... More About: Lunch , Literally , Eating , Perks
Perquisites - Fun SEC Reading Just in Time for the Holidays
2007-11-19 21:48:00 Perquisites are undoubtedly one of the more controversial areas of executive compensation. As such, I will not attempt to address the merits of perks, or why companies should or should not offer them. That is a debate best left for companies to discuss among their boards and executives. However, when it comes to compensation ... More About: Holidays , Reading , Time , Just in time , The Holidays
Having Skin in the Game
2007-10-23 19:24:00 As an independent research firm, we are often asked by our clients to help them in their decision making process by providing objective analysis on recent disclosure trends. One of the goals of my blog is to highlight interesting or unique compensation disclosure examples that we discover as part of our research. One ... More About: Skin , Game , The Game , The G
CustomInsight - Building on Our Community
2007-10-08 18:57:00 This week kicks off the annual NASPP Conference here in San Francisco. To keep with our tradition of timing new product launches with NASPP conferences, we’re excited to announce what we believe is an extremely innovative new service for our clients. As many of you know, in addition to our online databases, our ... More About: Building , Community , Unit
Cardinal Health - A Dose of Good Medicine
2007-09-21 02:13:00 A Creative Approach to Severance and Change In Control Multiples “Pay for failure” without a doubt is one of the more toxic topics when discussing executive compensation. When attracting a new executive, balancing “downside protection” vs. “over-the-top party favor” has its own set of unique challenges. If an executive is a top quartile performer, ... More About: Health , Medicine , Good , Cardinal , Dose
My First Post
2007-09-21 01:04:00 Thank you for your interest and taking the time to read my blog. A number of my friends have been encouraging me to do this and I finally overcame my coefficient of friction and got the ball rolling. First, I’d like to thank Alex Cwirko-Godykci, Vien Nguyen and Moi Luu in their help ... More About: General , Post , First Post |
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