How do I find out how much corporate executives and board members earn?
October 28, 2011 11:23 AM Subscribe
Where can I find out how much money the execs and board members of various big companies make?
I want to look at a bunch of companies and figure out how much money their top executives earn as well as officers on their boards of directors.
I've looked at some annual reports and it's not in there.
Somebody suggested I look at SEC forms. I've looked at some filings of a couple of companies there but so far am not finding that info. There are lots of different kinds of filings there. I've looked at some likely suspects but they only talk about compensation as an aggregate line item. Same thing for stuff like deferred compensation plans. No names, just everything lumped together. Is there any requirement that they disclose this information on their top brass or do you only hear about it through rumors?
Many or all of the companies I'll check will be public (don't know for sure yet), so I'm hoping I have a chance there using various online resources. That's the main part of this question that I'm hoping you can answer.
But what about private companies? Someone on a much less reputable answer site said you can order a credit check on someone and it would be in there - obviously nothing to do with the company in this case but just with the individual person. I had no idea that I as a regular Joe could do that on someone else, firstly, or that it would show their salary, secondly. Is this true? And if so, will they be able to tell who ordered the credit check on them? Like would they be able to figure out where I live? I would want to avoid that.
I want to look at a bunch of companies and figure out how much money their top executives earn as well as officers on their boards of directors.
I've looked at some annual reports and it's not in there.
Somebody suggested I look at SEC forms. I've looked at some filings of a couple of companies there but so far am not finding that info. There are lots of different kinds of filings there. I've looked at some likely suspects but they only talk about compensation as an aggregate line item. Same thing for stuff like deferred compensation plans. No names, just everything lumped together. Is there any requirement that they disclose this information on their top brass or do you only hear about it through rumors?
Many or all of the companies I'll check will be public (don't know for sure yet), so I'm hoping I have a chance there using various online resources. That's the main part of this question that I'm hoping you can answer.
But what about private companies? Someone on a much less reputable answer site said you can order a credit check on someone and it would be in there - obviously nothing to do with the company in this case but just with the individual person. I had no idea that I as a regular Joe could do that on someone else, firstly, or that it would show their salary, secondly. Is this true? And if so, will they be able to tell who ordered the credit check on them? Like would they be able to figure out where I live? I would want to avoid that.
Best answer: By the way, this is the same info you'd find on pages 14 and 30 in this proxy statement filed by Apple in January.
posted by jourman2 at 11:34 AM on October 28, 2011
posted by jourman2 at 11:34 AM on October 28, 2011
Best answer: Yeah, in a public company, this would always be in their proxy statement - the specific SEC filing you want is Form DEF 14A.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 11:38 AM on October 28, 2011
posted by strangely stunted trees at 11:38 AM on October 28, 2011
Best answer: you are better off just looking in the proxies (DEF 14a). Most companies will append the proxy to the 10-k, but they don't have to. Legally they are required to include the info in the proxy.
Its also important to note - especially for the fin services industry - you only need to disclose board comp and the total benefits for corporate officers. So, for example a big trader at Goldman is probably one of their highest paid employees, but that won't be disclosed in the proxy because he isn't an officer.
Credit checks will not give you salary income. For private companies (that haven't issued public debt either) you are probably SOL.
posted by JPD at 11:40 AM on October 28, 2011
Its also important to note - especially for the fin services industry - you only need to disclose board comp and the total benefits for corporate officers. So, for example a big trader at Goldman is probably one of their highest paid employees, but that won't be disclosed in the proxy because he isn't an officer.
Credit checks will not give you salary income. For private companies (that haven't issued public debt either) you are probably SOL.
posted by JPD at 11:40 AM on October 28, 2011
Best answer: In general, this is only a requirement for publicly traded companies, and only for the following: the CEO, the CFO, and three most highly-compensated officers. In other words, it's not all officers -- just those five.
As said above, the proxy statement is probably the best place to look.
posted by pardonyou? at 11:51 AM on October 28, 2011
As said above, the proxy statement is probably the best place to look.
posted by pardonyou? at 11:51 AM on October 28, 2011
I want to look at a bunch of companies and figure out how much money their top executives earn as well as officers on their boards of directors.
Keep in mind that the kind of people that serve on boards of directors at large-ish companies, a) usually aren't "on the payroll," in the same way an employee is; b) rarely have a single stream of income; and c) often serve on multiple boards of several companies.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:20 PM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Keep in mind that the kind of people that serve on boards of directors at large-ish companies, a) usually aren't "on the payroll," in the same way an employee is; b) rarely have a single stream of income; and c) often serve on multiple boards of several companies.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:20 PM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everybody and keep it coming if you have other sources for harder-to-get compensation info.
Cool Papa Bell, I understand what you're saying but I'm not looking to say necessarily that Person A has total income of X and a net worth of Y, as in, from all sources.* I'm looking for how much they are compensated by the particular companies I'm looking at to the degree that information is available. I understand execs will be easier than board members.
*Though now that you mention it, that might actually be useful context for what I'm doing.
posted by Askr at 12:53 PM on October 28, 2011
Cool Papa Bell, I understand what you're saying but I'm not looking to say necessarily that Person A has total income of X and a net worth of Y, as in, from all sources.* I'm looking for how much they are compensated by the particular companies I'm looking at to the degree that information is available. I understand execs will be easier than board members.
*Though now that you mention it, that might actually be useful context for what I'm doing.
posted by Askr at 12:53 PM on October 28, 2011
Best answer: All of the answers you have received so far are good. If this is just for your interest, then follow that advice. If you are actually interested in doing research on this topic and you need lots of information, then there are a number of places that take the data from company proxy statements and aggregate it. The two most prominent are The Corporate Library and the Execucomp portion of the Compustat database. I access both of those databases through a university subscription toWharton Research Data Services. Execucomp also has the information on the pay of the board.
posted by bove at 12:54 PM on October 28, 2011
posted by bove at 12:54 PM on October 28, 2011
By the way, I am an academic and this is an area that I do research on, so feel free to contact me offline if you want more information on this topic. Generally, for private companies you cannot get accurate pay information about the individuals who work there.
posted by bove at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2011
posted by bove at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
For example check out here, and then scroll down to the lower right hand corner. The same info should be available for any public company. However, I doubt you'll find anything on compensation for private companies because they are, by definition, private.
posted by jourman2 at 11:31 AM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]