The ability to
assess competitive executive practices among comparable competing
organizations is available to all HR professionals and employee benefit
consultants thanks to the Internet and SEC reporting. The proxy reporting
of executive pay, along with 10-K and other materials, are available to
all professionals within seconds. Determining how much one should pay
top-level management requires more than a judgment regarding direct pay
(salary and bonus). In privately held firms today, long-term incentives
and deferred compensation plans oftentimes accumulate more value than do
direct pay. These plans often exist to match the equity compensation
rewards earned by counterparts in publicly traded corporations. Matching
the values of these plans to the rewards earned via stock options is one
of the key skills called upon by the HR professional involved in executive
compensation planning and design. Moreover, human resources professionals today act as consultants to
their organizations. Oftentimes they are asked their thoughts regarding competitive practices. This course introduces
the Internet resources that exist today to quickly assess
competitive executive practices, with a
focus on proxy reporting of executive compensation data.
