Saturday, August 12, 2006

Corporate directors' pay sees slower rise


Study shows average raises decreased to 6.1% in 2005, partly due to accounting scandals.

Pay to corporate directors grew last year at a slower rate than in 2004 as boards absorbed rules changes brought about by accounting scandals, a new study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting shows.

The study, released Monday, said corporate directors received an average 6.1 percent increase in compensation in 2005, versus a 17.8 percent rise in 2004. That compares with a 5 percent boost for chief executives and an average 5.5 percent rise for workers at private companies across the nation last year.

"Back in 2002, when Sarbanes-Oxley came into being, there was a tremendous amount of pressure to do a lot more work, especially the audit committees," Mercer Senior Compensation Consultant Peter Oppermann said. "They were actually putting time in on corporate governance issues. That's really what drove the major increases."

See full Article.