In business combinations, particularly those involving larger companies, pooling of interest accounting is the preferred method of valuing the combined company, resulting in a larger EPS. Pooling of interests accounting will not be allowed under certain circumstances relating to stock options...

Due to recent drops in the stock market, many U.S. publicly traded companies are considering repricing stock options for their executives. Companies must balance the need to attract and retain executives with shareholder interests, since repricings effectively separate the interests of...

A new compensation approach available to nonprofit organizations involves the grant of an option to transfer property, such as an option to purchase shares in a mutual fund at a discounted stock price. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the complex issues involved in...

Recent stock price drops have prompted many directors to consider repricing stock option awards. Companies must balance the need to attract and retain executives with shareholder interests, along with many other governance issues. Option repricing should only be used as a last resort, subject to...

The board of directors should make leadership and succession planning a high priority, with meaningful compensation opportunities, especially for the CEO. A strong succession planning process helps to prepare the entire organization to handle senior executive departures when they inevitably...

Based on our recent analysis, we discovered two very interesting points. First, the companies that used the same performance measures in each of the past five years outperformed others that changed measures. Second, the best performance measure is Earnings per Share (“EPS”), followed by...

Perquisites are a form of non-performance based pay that has received significant scrutiny by shareholders over the past eight years, since new SEC disclosure requirements have highlighted more information about them. In order to investigate how perquisite levels have changed in the past six...

Finding the right balance is key to your long-term incentive plan. How does your company's program measure up against the top US companies? This article summarizes trends in long-term incentive design, based on data as disclosed in 2014 annual proxy statements for 200 of the largest U.S. companies

What effect, if any, does an ESOP have on a company's compensation philosophy and executive compensation plans and programs? Our firm recently conducted research in order to determine whether or not an ESOP materially alters compensation philosophy and executive compensation levels at public...

This article provides an analysis of how incentives are being structured to connect pay and performance at electric utility companies. Within the largest 200 US public companies, there are 16 electric utility companies (“EUC-16”). We are looking at the EUC-16 as a separate group from the...