The Advisors' Blog

Meredith recently shared summer compensation planning activities that will make your “future self” happy. One key to that type of advance prep is understanding what you (and your compensation committee) can actually control given all of the external factors that may be affecting compensation programs. This Pay Governance memo offers helpful perspectives. Here’s an excerpt:

Drawing on discussions from hundreds of compensation committee meetings during the first half of 2026, we highlight the issues that are receiving the greatest attention in today’s boardrooms. In this first installment, we focus on the external forces influencing compensation committees, from market volatility, proposed SEC disclosure changes, evolving shareholder engagement practices, and the changing proxy voting landscape. To best address these developments, committees should:

– Define principles that guide the determination of any adjustments (e.g., adjustments to reflect factors outside of management’s control),

– Assess the pros and cons that would be associated with implementing the SEC’s proposed curtailed executive pay disclosure rules (for public companies with float below $2 billion), if finalized, and

– Seek input from their investors on how they are evaluating executive compensation structures in the current environment.

– Liz Dunshee