IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/stabus/2068.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate Governance, Compensation Consultants, and CEO Pay Levels

Author

Listed:
  • Armstrong, Christopher S.

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Ittner, Christopher D.

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Larcker, David F.

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

This study investigates the relation between corporate governance and CEO pay levels, and the extent to which the higher pay found in firms using compensation consultants is related to governance differences. Using proxy statement disclosures from 2,110 companies, we find that CEO pay is higher in firms with weaker governance, and that firms with weaker governance are more likely to use compensation consultants. CEO pay remains higher in clients of consulting firms even after controlling for economic determinants of compensation. However, when consultant users and non-users are matched on both economic and governance characteristics, differences in pay levels are not statistically significant, indicating that governance differences explain much of higher pay in clients of compensation consultants. We find no support for claims that CEO pay is higher in potentially "conflicted" consultants that also offer additional non-compensation related services.

Suggested Citation

  • Armstrong, Christopher S. & Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F., 2010. "Corporate Governance, Compensation Consultants, and CEO Pay Levels," Research Papers 2068, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:2068
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/researchpapers/library/RP2068.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Watts, Ross L., 1992. "The investment opportunity set and corporate financing, dividend, and compensation policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-292, December.
    2. Murphy, Kevin J. & Sandino, Tatiana, 2010. "Executive pay and "independent" compensation consultants," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 247-262, April.
    3. Canice Prendergast, 1999. "The Provision of Incentives in Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 7-63, March.
    4. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    5. Eliezer M. Fich & Anil Shivdasani, 2006. "Are Busy Boards Effective Monitors?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(2), pages 689-724, April.
    6. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    7. Borokhovich, Kenneth A & Brunarski, Kelly R & Parrino, Robert, 1997. "CEO Contracting and Antitakeover Amendments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1495-1517, September.
    8. Faleye, Olubunmi, 2007. "Classified boards, firm value, and managerial entrenchment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 501-529, February.
    9. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    10. Lambert, Ra & Larcker, Df, 1987. "An Analysis Of The Use Of Accounting And Market Measures Of Performance In Executive-Compensation Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25, pages 85-129.
    11. Lucian Arye Bebchuk & Jesse M. Fried, 2003. "Executive Compensation as an Agency Problem," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 71-92, Summer.
    12. Core, John E. & Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F., 1999. "Corporate governance, chief executive officer compensation, and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 371-406, March.
    13. Cadman, Brian & Carter, Mary Ellen & Hillegeist, Stephen, 2010. "The incentives of compensation consultants and CEO pay," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 263-280, April.
    14. Richard M. Cyert & Sok-Hyon Kang & Praveen Kumar, 2002. "Corporate Governance, Takeovers, and Top-Management Compensation: Theory and Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 453-469, April.
    15. Daines, Robert & Klausner, Michael, 2001. "Do IPO Charters Maximize Firm Value? Antitakeover Protection in IPOs," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 83-120, April.
    16. John Core & Wayne Guay, 2002. "Estimating the Value of Employee Stock Option Portfolios and Their Sensitivities to Price and Volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 613-630, June.
    17. Bizjak, John M. & Lemmon, Michael L. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Does the use of peer groups contribute to higher pay and less efficient compensation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 152-168, November.
    18. Core, John & Guay, Wayne, 1999. "The use of equity grants to manage optimal equity incentive levels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 151-184, December.
    19. Paul R. Rosenbaum, 2007. "Sensitivity Analysis for m-Estimates, Tests, and Confidence Intervals in Matched Observational Studies," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 63(2), pages 456-464, June.
    20. Christopher S. Armstrong & Alan D. Jagolinzer & David F. Larcker, 2010. "Chief Executive Officer Equity Incentives and Accounting Irregularities," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 225-271, May.
    21. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Fried, Jesse M., 2003. "Executive Compensation as an Agency Problem," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt81q3136r, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    22. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    23. Faulkender, Michael & Yang, Jun, 2010. "Inside the black box: The role and composition of compensation peer groups," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 257-270, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Goergen, Marc & Renneboog, Luc, 2011. "Managerial compensation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1068-1077, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hsu, Audrey Wen-hsin & Shyu, Yi-Ru & Wang, Victoria Shao-Pin, 2014. "Non-compensation-related consultant service and CEO compensation," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 59-75.
    2. Albuquerque, Ana M. & De Franco, Gus & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2013. "Peer choice in CEO compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 160-181.
    3. Hwang, Byoung-Hyoun & Kim, Seoyoung, 2009. "It pays to have friends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 138-158, July.
    4. Michelle L. Zorn & Christine Shropshire & John A. Martin & James G. Combs & David J. Ketchen Jr., 2017. "Home Alone: The Effects of Lone-Insider Boards on CEO Pay, Financial Misconduct, and Firm Performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(13), pages 2623-2646, December.
    5. Loureiro, Gilberto & Makhija, Anil K. & Zhang, Dan, 2011. "Why Do Some CEOs Work for a One-Dollary Salary?," Working Paper Series 2011-7, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    6. Chongwoo Choe & Gloria Tian & Xiangkang Yin, 2008. "Managerial Power, Stock-Based Compensation, And Firm Performance: Theory And Evidence," Monash Economics Working Papers 21/08, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    7. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Larcker, David F., 2012. "The incentives for tax planning," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 391-411.
    8. Canil, Jean & Karpavičius, Sigitas, 2020. "Compensation consultants: Does reputation matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Mani, Sureshbabu & Ye, Pengfei, 2016. "Relative peer quality and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 196-219.
    10. Bereskin, Frederick L. & Cicero, David C., 2013. "CEO compensation contagion: Evidence from an exogenous shock," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 477-493.
    11. Bugeja, Martin & Matolcsy, Zoltan P. & Spiropoulos, Helen, 2012. "Is there a gender gap in CEO compensation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 849-859.
    12. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    13. Cheng, Minying & Lin, Bingxuan & Wei, Minghai, 2015. "Executive compensation in family firms: The effect of multiple family members," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 238-257.
    14. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach, 2009. "Shareholder Rights, Boards, and CEO Compensation," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(1), pages 81-113.
    15. Yan Liu & Carol Padgett & Simone Varotto, 2017. "Corporate Governance, Bank Mergers and Executive Compensation," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 12-29, January.
    16. Jenny Chu & Jonathan Faasse & P. Raghavendra Rau, 2018. "Do Compensation Consultants Enable Higher CEO Pay? A Disclosure Rule Change as a Separating Device," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4915-4935, October.
    17. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2016_006 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Davila, Toni & Peñalva, Fernando, 2005. "Governance structure and the weighting of performance measures in CEO compensation," IESE Research Papers D/601, IESE Business School.
    19. Ed Dehaan & Frank Hodge & Terry Shevlin, 2013. "Does Voluntary Adoption of a Clawback Provision Improve Financial Reporting Quality?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1027-1062, September.
    20. Ahmed, Shaker & Ranta, Mikko & Vähämaa, Emilia & Vähämaa, Sami, 2023. "Facial attractiveness and CEO compensation: Evidence from the banking industry," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    21. Sualihu, Mohammed Aminu & Rankin, Michaela & Haman, Janto, 2021. "The role of equity compensation in reducing inefficient investment in labor," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:2068. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsstaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.