In anticipation of 2010, Pearl Meyer & Partners has published a survey offering a glimpse into how executive pay practices are changing from year to year. The PM&P report titled “Compensation Planning: Looking Ahead to Executive Pay Practices in 2010,” is based on 395 respondents from a variety of industries, ranging from Fortune 50 members to not-for-profits and emerging growth companies.
One observation included the absence of peer group selection and say-on-pay topics. According to PM&P, peer group selection is the cornerstone for external benchmarking efforts. Under expanded proxy rules, companies must list the firms that they use for benchmarking purposes. On July 31, 2009, the House of Representatives approved the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009. This bill is another step toward instilling say-on-pay votes at all public companies. Most mandatory say-on-pay votes will be pushed back to the 2011 proxy season, but 2010 executive pay decision would then be the subject of initial say-on-pay votes.