A CAP report authored by Principal Ryan Colucci with data on salary, bonuses, and equity payouts was recently published by Fortune. The data in the study reflected S&P 1500 companies that have fiscal year ends between 9/30 and 11/30. Colucci shared that for S&P 1500 companies, the report findings may reflect themes in salary increases, and lower bonus payout compared to the prior year. Colucci explained that CFOs have generally received slightly higher salary increases when compared to CEOs and that in this past year, salary budgets across industries were higher than historic norms, so we see a marginal increase in the spread between CEOs and CFOs. Read the full report here.
A CAP report on CFO pay was referenced by a Fortune article this week regarding women in financial leadership roles and their pay. CAP’s report on CFO pay specifically provides deeper insight into CFO pay relative to CEO pay revealing that more CFOs received increases in 2021 compared to 2020, with the median increase generally in line with 2020. Overall, 62% of companies in the study made salary increases for CFOs in 2021 and only 42% of companies made increases for their CEOs. The CAP report can be found here.
Principal Lauren Peek and a CAP report was referenced in a recent Fortune article detailing the most “overpaid” and “underpaid” CEOs in the Fortune 500. The article references the environmental and social goals that many large companies claim to be embracing however, these goals have yet to account for a significant chunk of CEO compensation. The CAP report exhibits how just about 50% of companies included ESG in their compensation targets, up from 30% two years earlier. Peek shares that CEOs, by far, are still mostly paid out on financial performance rather than ESG related goals.
Founding Partner Margaret Engel and Principal Lauren Peek were quoted in Fortune’s recent article discussing skyrocketing CEO pay as pay ratios soar in 2021. Engel shares that the system isn’t necessarily broken but rather, there are some individual examples where companies “push the envelope” on CEO pay packages and it generally works. The article also cites a CAP report detailing that almost 50% of companies included ESG in their incentive compensation targets but these goals usually only accounted for about 5 to 15 percent of annual incentives. Peek shares that by far, CEOs are still mostly paid out of financial performance.
In early April, Principals Lauren Peek and Joanna Czyzewski published the early filers report which was cited again by Fortune this past week. Their analysis found that the median CEO total pay increased 19% from 2020 with surges in bonus payouts being the main reason behind this increase. This was the fifth time this report was cited by a business publication.
The early filers report published by Principals Lauren Peek and Joanna Czyzewski was cited by Fortune in a published article that discusses the recent surge in CEO pay. CAP’s report revealed that there was a 73% jump in the annual incentive payout for CEOs, and approximately 90% of companies provided an incentive payout that was at or above the target set out in their CEO’s contract. This was the third time Fortune has cited this report in the last week.
The early filers report recently published by Principals Lauren Peek and Joanna Czyzewski was cited by Fortune in a published article that discusses the skyrocketing CEO pay. The CAP report revealed that stock awards and cash bonuses are responsible for the bulk of the overall CEO pay increases. This was the second reference to the report by Fortune in the past week.
