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Un article du The National Law Review revient sur la récente initiative de la SEC américaine visant à imposer aux grandes entreprises la publication d’un ratio de rémunération : « SEC Issues Pay Ratio Disclosure Guidance » (21 novembre 2016). Vous trouverez ainsi une belle synthèse des dernières interprétations de la SEC dans le domaine de la conformité et de la transparence.

Pour en savoir plus sur Regulation S-K – Last Update: October 18, 2016, cliquez ici.

Under the Rule, most companies required to provide compensation disclosure pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K in filings with the SEC must disclose in their annual reports, proxy or information statements, and registration statements in which executive compensation disclosure under Item 402 of Regulation S-K is required, (1) the median annual total compensation of all employees, except their principal executive officer (PEO), (2) the PEO’s annual total compensation, and (3) the ratio of these two compensation amounts. Disclosure under the Rule must be made with respect to compensation for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Thus, an issuer with a December 31 fiscal year must first make pay ratio disclosure under the Rule as to the compensation deemed paid by it for the year ending December 31, 2017, and most issuers subject to the Rule are likely to make their first pay ratio disclosure in their proxy statements used in the 2018 proxy season.

Issuers subject to the Rule should review the Staff’s guidance in connection with determining the issuers’ employee population and identifying their employee earning the median annual total compensation of all of their employees other than their PEO (Median Employee) to ensure their determination of their Median Employee is in compliance with both the Rule and the Staff’s guidance. Those issuers intending to take advantage of the flexibility that the Rule affords regarding the compensation measure used to determine an issuer’s Median Employee should pay particular attention to the Staff’s guidance regarding the acceptability and mechanics of such a measure.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Le bien informé Financial Times (« Brussels deal to give shareholders more clout on directors’ pay« , 8 décembre 2016) vient de révéler une information qui fera réagir les lectrices et lecteurs de ce blogue. L’UE serait sur le point d’adopter un accord donnant plus de pouvoir aux actionnaires en matière de rémunération des dirigeants, l’objectif étant de contrecarrer le court-termisme dont feraient preuve les CA.

Pour les points essentiels, voici ce qui a été décidé :

Under the deal struck between negotiators from the European Parliament and Slovakia, which holds the EU’s presidency, shareholders will get a vote on companies’ pay policy at least every four years.

The agreement reached will leave individual nations to decide whether to opt for a system of binding shareholder votes on pay, or to allow votes to be advisory. However, even an advisory vote against pay structures would require companies to present a revised policy for another vote at the next general meeting of shareholders.

Investors will also get an advisory say on listed companies’ annual remuneration reports, which provide an individual breakdown of pay and benefits given to individual directors over the last financial year.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, la rémunération des patrons ne cessent de croître. Les derniers chiffres publiés par le journal Les Échos.fr donnent le tournis : « Rémunération record pour les patrons des 120 plus grandes sociétés cotées à Paris ».

Le salaire des PDG des 120 plus grosses entreprises cotées à Paris a connu une hausse record l’an dernier. Selon les calculs publiés par Proxinvest, il a augmenté de 20 % pour atteindre 3,5 millions d’euros en moyenne.

La rémunération moyenne annuelle totale des présidents exécutifs du CAC 40 atteint quant à elle 5 millions d’euros, en hausse de 18%, « ce qui excède désormais la rémunération maximale socialement acceptable définie à 240 Smic par Proxinvest (soit 4,8 millions d’euros) », indique ce mercredi le cabinet de conseil aux investisseurs. Il précise que cette rémunération plafond souhaitée est désormais dépassée par 26 présidents exécutifs du SBF 120, contre 16 en 2014.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

« Petit » billet proposé par Findley Davies revenant sur les sujets chauds en matière de rémunération des hauts dirigeants : « Hot Topics in Executive Compensation » (par Brad Smith).

Voici un extrait :

Areas of Interest :

a. Evergreen renewals of executive compensation agreements

b. Golden parachute excise tax gross ups

c. Guaranteed bonuses/equity grants

d. « Excessive » severance or perquisites

e. « Liberal » change of control definitions and/or payouts

f. Single trigger vesting of equity grants

g. Reconciliation of non-GAAP performance measures to GAAP

• Trends in executive compensation design

Observations :

a. Mandatory holding periods after vesting are growing in popularity for accounting purposes.

b. A portfolio approach (more than one vehicle) is becoming the norm for delivery of long term incentive compensation.

c. Total Shareholder Return is becoming a more popular performance metric.

d. Clawbacks are becoming more of a standard practice in executive compensation in light of upcoming Dodd-Frank regulations.

e. Use of stock options is becoming less common because of accounting issues and advisory firms’ stance that they are not pay for performance.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, intéressant article dans Le Figaro intitulé : « La rémunération des administrateurs du CAC 40 a augmenté de 15 000 euros en 2016 » (10 octobre 2016).

La rémunération des administrateurs du CAC 40 a crû de 15 000 euros en valeur absolue en 2016, selon le Panorama de la Gouvernance des sociétés cotées françaises, publié par le cabinet EY. Cette croissance est en grande partie liée au passage sous pavillon étranger de 4 sociétés ces deux dernières années et au réajustement à la hausse de la rémunération de leurs conseils d’administration, notamment pour Alcatel-Nokia et Larfarge-Holcim.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

« Should Say-on-Pay Votes Be Binding? » (The CLS Blue Sky Blog, 13 septembre 2016)… en voilà une belle question que se posent Yvan Allaire and François Dauphine.

The practice of allowing shareholders to cast non-binding say-on-pay votes has spread quickly and broadly throughout the world. It seemed that investors would finally get the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with outrageous or ill-conceived compensation packages.

The practice was, at first, voluntary, with companies having the option of submitting their compensation policies to a vote. As the number of volunteers remained small, though, investors submitted proposals for requiring companies to carry out the non-binding votes.

In some jurisdictions like the United States, non-binding say-on-pay votes were made mandatory. In Canada, say-on-pay votes are not required, but 80 percent of the largest companies have adopted the practice voluntarily or as a result of pressure from investors.

Now that say-on-pay has been around a few years, what does research tell us about its effectiveness?

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian