Executive Compensation And Shareholder Value

Executive compensation has gained widespread public attention in recent years, with the pay of top U.S. executives reaching unprecedented levels compared either with past levels, with the remuneration of top executives in other countries, or with the wages and salaries of typical employees. The extraordinary levels of executive compensation have been achieved at a time when U.S. public companies have realized substantial gains in stock market value. Many have cited this as evidence that U.S. executive compensation works well, rewarding managers who make difficult decisions that lead to higher shareholder values, while others have argued that the overly generous salaries and benefits bear little relation to company performance. Recent conceptual and empirical research permits for the first time a truly rigorous debate on these and related issues, which is the subject of this volume.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2003 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1.0 (A), Edinburgh Napier University (Business School), 200 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: For several decades academics have been looking for an efficient performance measure, which not only reflects the effectiveness and efficiency of the firm, but also aligns manager′s and shareholder′s interests. Even though many studies question the merit of a single measure for overall firm performance, Stern and Stewart claim to have solved the puzzle with a method labeled Economic Value Added (EVA). This paper examines two aspects: First, EVA′s predicting power regarding stock returns and second, its impact on management behavior as an element of executive compensation. At first glance, Stern and Stewart seem to be right. During the early 1990s their approach gained tremendous popularity, reflected by dozens of anecdotal success stories. Though EVA′s demand of integrating a total capital charge is appealing, the concept is by no means new. The framework of residual income (economic profit), which has been around for decades, also requires a charge for equity capital. Further, some scholars criticize the use of accounting adjustments in order to calculate EVA and its ability to capture performance at the divisional level. So far there is no independent empirical evidence that EVA is superior to accounting measures in predicting stock returns. Some studies even question EVA′s incremental value regarding executive compensation by stating that economic profit is doing as good a job. Consequently, it is tempting to doubt that Economic Value Added indeed adds any value.

A definitive road map to help companies assess and refine their executive reward strategies. Responsible pay has become inextricably linked with corporate governance and long-term shareholder value creation. Responsible Executive Compensation for a New Era of Accountability shows you how to revamp your executive compensation programs to drive shareholder value creation while adhering to the high standards of the new corporate governance environment. Packed with case studies, diagnostics, and contributions from world-renowned experts in executive compensation, this vital resource offers a comprehensive overview of the critical issues affecting executive compensation practice and theory during this new era. Order your copy today!

U.S. executive pay, particularly that of CEOs, has been under serious attack for nearly a decade. Despite the fact that tying executive performance and pay to stock price has appeared to have substantially benefited the U.S. economy, this criticism has not subsided. CEO Pay and Shareholder Value challenges some assumptions behind this criticism by addressing these pertinent questions and more:

The company is under-performing, its share price is trailing, and the CEO gets...a multi-million-dollar raise. This story is familiar, for good reason: as this book clearly demonstrates, structural flaws in corporate governance have produced widespread distortions in executive pay. Pay without Performance presents a disconcerting portrait of managers' influence over their own pay--and of a governance system that must fundamentally change if firms are to be managed in the interest of shareholders. Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried demonstrate that corporate boards have persistently failed to negotiate at arm's length with the executives they are meant to oversee. They give a richly detailed account of how pay practices--from option plans to retirement benefits--have decoupled compensation from performance and have camouflaged both the amount and performance-insensitivity of pay. Executives' unwonted influence over their compensation has hurt shareholders by increasing pay levels and, even more importantly, by leading to practices that dilute and distort managers' incentives. This book identifies basic problems with our current reliance on boards as guardians of shareholder interests. And the solution, the authors argue, is not merely to make these boards more independent of executives as recent reforms attempt to do. Rather, boards should also be made more dependent on shareholders by eliminating the arrangements that entrench directors and insulate them from their shareholders. A powerful critique of executive compensation and corporate governance, Pay without Performance points the way to restoring corporate integrity and improving corporate performance.

General readers have no idea why people should care about what executives are paid and why they are paid the way they are. That's the reason that The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, and other popular and practitioner publications have regular coverage on them. This book not only proposes a reason - executives need incentives in order to maximize firm value (economists call this agency theory) - it also describes the nature and design of executive compensation practices. Those incentives can take the form of benefits (salary, stock options), or prerquisites (reflecting the status of the executive within the organizational culture.

Tackles executive pay from the start, looking at what shareholders want and what is meant by 'performance'. This book also examines the various forms of executive pay and shows where things go wrong for the shareholder. It looks at the dynamics that drive the level of executive pay, suggesting changes in order to meet the shareholder interest.

A powerful critique of executive compensation and corporate governance, "Pay Without Performance" points the way to restoring corporate integrity and improving corporate performance.