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Top Executive Pay in the United Kingdom: A Corporate Governance Dilemma

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  • Phillip McKnight
  • Cyril Tomkins

Abstract

This study represents a first attempt in the UK literature to split total pay into salary, annual bonus and share options for the purpose of empirically verifying how each is related to executive performance. As predicted from earlier studies on total pay, salaries were found primarily determined by firm size. Contarary to prior research, however, our findings suggest a pronounced link does exist between performance and pay over both the short- and long-term. This is manifested particularly by the magnitude of the coefficient estimates found between changes in shareholders return and changes in executive share options. This finding strongly suggests that the leverage executives achieve, on average, in their rewards as share prices increase may well be substantial; a finding that has not been captured in previous research on executive remuneration and which is of considerable relevance to the current corporate governance debates.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillip McKnight & Cyril Tomkins, 1999. "Top Executive Pay in the United Kingdom: A Corporate Governance Dilemma," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 223-243.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:6:y:1999:i:2:p:223-243
    DOI: 10.1080/13571519984241
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Phillip McKnight & Cyril Tomkins & Charlie Weir & David Hobson, 2000. "CEO Age and Top Executive Pay: A UK Empirical Study," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 4(3), pages 173-187, September.
    2. M. Ali Choudhary & J. Michael Orszag, 2003. "Are Performance Conditions On Executive Options Driven By Fundamentals?," School of Economics Discussion Papers 1103, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    3. Paul Gregg & Sarah Jewell & Ian Tonks, 2005. "Executive Pay and Performance in the UK 1994-2002," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 05/122, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    4. Rick Antle & Elizabeth Gordon & Ganapathi Narayanamoorthy & Ling Zhou, 2006. "The joint determination of audit fees, non-audit fees, and abnormal accruals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 235-266, November.
    5. Fayez A. Elayan & Jingyu Li & Thomas O. Meyer, 2008. "Accounting irregularities, management compensation structure and information asymmetry," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(5), pages 741-760, December.
    6. Feng-Li Lin, 2016. "Executive Pay and Market Value Sensitivity," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(4), pages 411-424, September.
    7. Jesper Banghøj & Gorm Gabrielsen & Christian Petersen & Thomas Plenborg, 2010. "Determinants of executive compensation in privately held firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(3), pages 481-510, September.
    8. Nana Osei-Bonsu & Joseph George M. Lutta, 2016. "CEO Cash Compensation and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study from Emerging Markets," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 6(2), pages 79-99, December.
    9. Ali Saleh Ahmed Alarussi, 2021. "Effectiveness, Efficiency and Executive Directors’ Compensation Among Listed Companies in Malaysia," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    10. Rick Antle & Elizabeth Gordon & Ganapathi Narayanamoorthy & Ling Zhou, 2002. "The Joint Determination of Audit Fees, Non-Audit Fees, and Abnormal Accruals," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2502, Yale School of Management, revised 02 May 2006.
    11. Rayton, Bruce A. & Brammer, Stephen & Cheng, Suwina, 2012. "Corporate visibility and executive pay," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 337-339.

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