SEC takes a step toward finishing hotly demanded CEO pay rule

The 2010 Dodd-Frank bank reform law mandated the agency make a rule to require public companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median paid employee. It took three years to come out with a proposal, and after 22,860 comments, it’s still working on a final rule.

The SEC staff has now published an analysis by the agency’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis that considers the impact of various methods of calculating the required disclosures. That development comes just two days after Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, called out the delays in finalizing the rule while harshly criticizing the overall performance of SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White.

-By Francine McKenna, Published: June 5, 2015

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One-Time Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers

Yacht-size bonuses for Wall Street big shots and employee-of-the-month plaques for supermarket standouts are nothing new, but companies’ continued efforts to keep costs down have pushed employers to increasingly turn to one-off bonuses and nonmonetary rewards at the expense of annual pay raises.

“There is a quiet revolution in compensation,” said Ken Abosch, a partner at Aon Hewitt, a global human resources company. “There are not many things in the world of compensation that are all that radical, but this is a drastic shift.” The New York Times, By PATRICIA COHENMAY 25, 2015

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Apple Executives Paid $281 Million Have Top Pay-for-Performance

Five Apple Inc. employees who were paid $281 million last year are among the 100 highest-paid executives in the U.S.

They’re worth every penny, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index, the first daily ranking of U.S. executive compensation.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, Senior Vice Presidents Angela Ahrendts, Eduardo Cue and Jeffrey Williams, and former Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer have a combined pay package equivalent to about 1 percent of the company’s economic profit, according to the ranking.

-Caleb Melby, Bloomberg Business, April 17, 2015

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Shareholders Rein In Golden Parachutes

Turnover of CEOs accelerated almost 16% between January 2013 and 2014—the highest level in four years, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Shareholders believe that a side effect of this trend appears to be outsized golden parachutes designed to benefit CEOs—and other executives—who will likely experience a significant period of time in between roles. One could argue that shorter terms and longer periods in between positions is a symptom of a larger challenge in board leadership. CEOs need time and support to shape organizations into desired performance.

-Christopher P. Skroupa, Forbes, 4/27/2015

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SEC Votes 3-2 to Propose Executive-Compensation Rules

WASHINGTON--A divided Securities and Exchange Commission floated new rules to require publicly traded companies to make it easier for shareholders to determine whether top executives' compensation is aligned with the firm's financial performance.

The SEC voted 3-2 Wednesday to propose rules that would force about 6,000 publicly traded companies to tell investors how the pay of top management tracked the firm's financial results.

A requirement of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, the proposal marks the latest attempt to strengthen investors' ability to understand--and challenge--companies over their executive-pay practices. The SEC has previously greenlighted so-called "say-on-pay" votes that require companies to put executive-compensation packages up to a nonbinding shareholder vote at least once every three years.

By Dow Jones Business News,  April 29, 2015

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Four in 10 investors believe ‘say on pay’ vote has no influence

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — More than four in 10 institutional investors say their “say on pay” vote doesn’t end up influencing how company executives are paid, according to a new study from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Perhaps equally worrisome for small investors, who rely on money managers to represent their interests, just one in four of those professionals said they understand the way executives will receive payouts under long-term performance plans.

The findings come after the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2011 began requiring nonbinding shareholders vote on executive compensation at least once every three years, under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

Feb 17, 2015, Eric Garcia, Reporter

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Blue Cross top executive gets big raise, lower overall compensation

The release Friday of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of N.C.’s executive compensation for 2014 reopens the debate about what is fair and competitive for a not-for-profit health system to offer.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Brad Wilson, its chief executive and president, received a 5.6 percent raise in salary to $947,862. His bonus decreased 13 percent to $1.8 million. Total compensation was $2.83 million, down 4.7 percent from 2013, but up 13.9 percent from 2012.

Friday, February 27, 2015, Richard Craver/Winston-Salem Journal  

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