Egan Associates has over the last twenty years since the Corporation Law required comprehensive disclosure, compiled research data on non-executive directors’ emoluments, board demographics and related information.
The present crisis in financial and capital markets highlights issues which have been raised in the Australian, US, UK and European parliaments regarding the independence of external advisors and their level of engagement in the provision of professional services to corporations.
Independent Advice
Remuneration Committees and boards increasingly need expertise in risk management, accounting and tax, audit, remuneration plan design and governance, compliance and legal, and that expertise is certainly not available in its entirety from remuneration advisors.
Among the top 100 companies whose financial years ended between January and October 2009, CEO reward levels reflected a decline from 2008 and a significant decline from the peak of the 2007 calendar year.
Following the publication of the Productivity Commission’s (PC) Issue Paper on the regulation of director and executive remuneration in Australia in April, a significant diversity of proposals have been submitted to the Commission for its consideration.
While there is a significant focus on substantial rewards paid to senior executives in major corporates, the facts reveal that outside the top 100 companies only a small percentage of senior executives, including Chief Executives, receive salaries plus annual incentives to a combined value of $1,000,000.
