The Advisors' Blog

– Randi Morrison, CompensationStandards.com

The CFA Institute’s recent, creative online forum – “Executive Pay Disclosure in the Say-on-Pay Era” – is a convenient way for practitioners and boards to access the views of key, seasoned stakeholders in executive compensation engagement and disclosure.

In the forum, ISS’s Carol Bowie, Apache director & former Compensation Committee Chair Chip Lawrence, Covington & Burling’s Keir Gumbs, Towers Watson James Kroll, Prudential’s Peggy Foran and NIRI’s Ted Allen weigh in on a series of practical questions posed by CFA Institute’s Matt Orsagh including:

• What do investors want from the CD&A section of the proxy statement?
• What are some of the most significant improvements you have seen in the CD&A over the past 5–10 years? Please highlight some best practices that investors have found helpful.
• What is the state of engagement around executive compensation between companies and investors? How has increased engagement improved the CD&A?
• Re: engagement – who should be involved in the process from a companies point of view? At what point does the compensation committee speak with investors about compensation issues?
• What process do issuers go through in creating a strong CD&A — who is involved, what is the timeline?
• For small-cap and mid-cap companies with limited resources to devote to the CD&A, what are some of the most important things to focus on?
• Is the CD&A all about “say on pay” these days or are there other substantive issues at play?
• Are there any nascent compensation issues you expect to grow in importance this proxy season or in coming years?

See Matt’s blog about the forum and the CFA Institute’s CD&A Template.