Abstract
Given recent high profile corporate collapses and scandals in Australia there has been increased interest in the performance of corporations' senior management, particularly those listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). New regulations, both mandatory and voluntary, have been developed with the objective of improving the overall governance structure of these corporations. Concomitant with this effort is greater information disclosure of remuneration packages provided to corporations' directors and senior executives; the most important being the promulgation of AASB 1046 - Director and Executive Disclosures by Disclosing Entities by the Australian Accounting Standards Board. Given increased disclosure this paper investigates remuneration practices for two ASX-listed financial services corporations covering the years 2003 to 2007. Specifically it looks at the structure of remuneration packages and remuneration amounts for both the fixed and variable or performance-based components of remuneration. The major finding is that although remuneration package structures follow similar lines there are significant differences in remuneration amounts, particularly in the variable or performance-based remuneration, between senior personnel within the same corporation as well as between corporations. The study examined annual percentage changes in both fixed and variable remuneration and found that fixed percentage changes were quite small, while for variable remuneration percentage increases were higher than those for a set of financial indicators for the corporation as compared to percentage decreases which were lower than those for the same set of financial indicators.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-18 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Employment Relations Record |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Keywords
- Australian Stock Exchange
- corporate governance
- executives
- salaries
- merit pay
- financial services industry
- employee stock options
- stock exchanges