The Advisors' Blog

– Broc Romanek, CompensationStandards.com

We were happy to see this week’s Wall Street Journal article – entitled “Firms End Key Benefit for Executives” – which describes the growing practice of killing off “gross-ups.” In the article, it is noted that “43 companies in Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index will stop paying certain taxes for their top brass this year, according to a review of 2009 regulatory filings for The Wall Street Journal by compensation-research firm Equilar.”

In the article, one of the key speakers for our upcoming “6th Annual Executive Compensation Conference,” Ira Kay, head of executive-compensation consulting for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, advises his clients to scrap all tax reimbursements. Gross-ups for golden parachutes are “very expensive for the shareholders,” he says, and tax payments for perks draw unnecessary attention to pay plans.

Last Day for Early Bird Rates: “4th Annual Proxy Disclosure Conference” & “6th Annual Executive Compensation Conference”

You need to register by the end of today to obtain the very reasonable Early Bird rates our popular conferences – “Tackling Your 2010 Compensation Disclosures: The 4th Annual Proxy Disclosure Conference” & “6th Annual Executive Compensation Conference” – that will be held in San Francisco on November 9-10th (and via Live Nationwide Video Webcast). Warning: These reasonable rates will NOT be extended beyond today!

Here is the Conference registration form – and here is the agenda. These Conferences have been accredited by RiskMetrics for director education.