Executive Compensation and Agency Effects

The separation of ownership from control in large corporations can cause agency problems. This study analyzes the effects of the dispersion of corporate ownership on the compensation of the top executives of Fortune 500 companies. The effects are estimated across the executive hierarchy and for different components of the compensation package in contrast to more limited previous studies. The results indicate that there is a significant agency effect on executive pay, though the magnitude is small relative to company size. The effects are greatest for the most liquid form of remuneration, salaries, and are nonuniform across executive categories, with the strongest effect found for the Chairman of the Board.     

Structure and Level of Remuneration Across the Top Executive Team

This paper details the level and structure of executive remuneration across the executive team from 2006 to 2009. Results indicate that the level and structure of executive pay varies across the executive team. There is a clear delineation between the level and structure of all components of pay for the CEO and Executive 1, and for other executives. Employees of finance firms receive higher levels of pay and greater proportions of bonus than do employees in other sectors. Pay structure in 2009 is different from other years in the study, indicating that the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 has led to differences in executive pay.     

Executive Compensation and the Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt

Executive compensation influences managerial risk preferences through executives' portfolio sensitivities to changes in stock prices (delta) and stock return volatility (vega). Large deltas discourage managerial risk‐taking, while large vegas encourage risk‐taking. Theory suggests that short‐maturity debt mitigates agency costs of debt by constraining managerial risk preferences. We posit and find evidence of a negative (positive) relation between CEO portfolio deltas (vegas) and short‐maturity debt. We also find that short‐maturity debt mitigates the influence of vega‐ and delta‐related incentives on bond yields. Overall, our empirical evidence shows that short‐term debt mitigates agency costs of debt arising from compensation risk.     

上市公司薪酬委员会有效性与高管薪酬研究——基于“有效契约论”与“管理权力论”的比较分析

"有效契约论"把高管激励契约看成重要的公司治理机制,有效的薪酬激励机制可以协调股东和高管的利益冲突,实现股东财富最大化。"管理权力论"则认为,高管对自己的薪酬安排有很大影响,可以利用自身权力以多种方式进行寻租。本文针对高管激励的上述两种假说,结合我国的制度背景,从上市公司设立薪酬委员会的动因、薪酬委员会对高管薪酬安排的影响两方面展开研究。以2001年至2008年深沪两市的上市公司作为研究样本,通过实证分析,我们发现,如果潜在代理成本越高,公司就越可能设立薪酬委员会,这与有效契约论的预期一致;同时,薪酬委员会的设立增强了薪酬-业绩敏感度。研究结论对健全薪酬委员会制度、有效发挥高管薪酬契约的激励作用以及规范上市公司治理具有借鉴意义。     

Wealth and Executive Compensation

Using new data on the wealth of Swedish CEOs, I show that higher wealth CEOs receive stronger incentives. Since high wealth (excluding own‐firm holdings) implies low absolute risk aversion, this is consistent with a risk aversion explanation. To examine whether wealth is likely to proxy for power, I use lagged wealth (typically measured before the CEO was hired), and the results remain for one of two incentive measures. Also, the wealth–incentive result is not stronger for CEOs likely to face limited owner oversight. Finally, wealth is unrelated to pay levels, and is hence unlikely to proxy for skill.     

投资者情绪、经理激励契约与企业投资

本文基于中国上市公司经理激励契约安排的制度背景,把经理激励契约纳入投资者非理性分析框架,就投资者情绪与经理激励契约如何相互作用影响企业投资进行了理论分析,并进行了实证检验。结果发现,高管持股会诱发高管利用投机的股市进行过度投资,而与股价弱相关的货币薪酬没有这种作用,而且经理薪酬的这种作用因企业实际控制人性质不同而有所差异。本研究表明高管持股在企业投资决策中具有负面的公司治理效应。     

A Reduced Form Coefficients Analysis of Executive Ownership, Corporate Value, and Executive Compensation

Most simultaneous equations studies analyze the coefficients from the structural forms of the models, which provide estimates of the direct effects of independent variables on the dependent variables in each equation, but ignore the indirect effects these independent variables have on dependent variables in other equations. This paper modifies the work of Chung and Pruitt (1996) by extending the model to include board composition and institutional ownership variables and then estimating the structural and derived reduced form coefficients for the extended model. The signs and significance of the reduced form coefficients differ in several material respects from the results of the structural form coefficient analysis, which suggests that analysis of only the structural form coefficients is incorrect and potentially misleading.     

Duration of Executive Compensation

Extensive discussions on the inefficiencies of “short‐termism” in executive compensation notwithstanding, little is known empirically about the extent of such short‐termism. We develop a novel measure of executive pay duration that reflects the vesting periods of different pay components, thereby quantifying the extent to which compensation is short‐term. We calculate pay duration in various industries and document its correlation with firm characteristics. Pay duration is longer in firms with more growth opportunities, more long‐term assets, greater R&D intensity, lower risk, and better recent stock performance. Longer CEO pay duration is negatively related to the extent of earnings‐increasing accruals.     

Institutional Investors and Executive Compensation

We find that institutional ownership concentration is positively related to the pay‐for‐performance sensitivity of executive compensation and negatively related to the level of compensation, even after controlling for firm size, industry, investment opportunities, and performance. These results suggest that the institutions serve a monitoring role in mitigating the agency problem between shareholders and managers. Additionally, we find that clientele effects exist among institutions for firms with certain compensation structures, suggesting that institutions also influence compensation structures through their preferences.     

CEO Influence and Executive Compensation

The sales-maximization hypothesis and the shareholder wealth-maximization hypothesis have been suggested in prior finance literature to explain the determinants of CEO pay. This paper proposes that CEO influence over the board is an additional explanation for the size of CEO pay. Evidence from the 1989–1991 period indicates that CEO pay is positively related to measures of CEO influence over the board. Results of this study suggest that CEO salary levels are mostly a function of CEO influence over the board, the growth in sales and the size of the firm.     

集团内关联交易、高管薪酬激励与资本配置效率

本文分析集团内关联交易对高管薪酬业绩敏感度和资本配置效率的影响。结果发现:集团内关联交易会降低高管薪酬业绩敏感度;在外部职业经理人担任CEO和董事长的企业中,集团内关联交易会降低公司资本配置效率,但是,这种效应在家族成员担任CEO或董事长的企业中不存在。进一步的检验发现,集团内关联交易对高管薪酬激励和资本配置效率的负面影响主要集中在非市场化定价的关联交易。这些研究结果表明,非市场化定价的关联交易会弱化高管薪酬激励,进而降低外部职业经理人担任CEO和董事长的企业的资本配置效率。本文从集团内关联交易的视角对高管薪酬激励及其经济后果的相关研究进行了创新,同时丰富了控股家族成员担任公司CEO或董事长的相关研究。     

Corporate Culture and the Problem of Executive Compensation

In this commentary on Bebchuk and Fried s Pay Without Performance , the former SEC Chairman begins by declaring, "I have problems with exorbitant executive pay precisely because I care about markets and private enterprise. These huge pay checks… undermine corporate governance and send a signal that boards are willing to spend shareholders' money lavishly and with too little oversight." The author calls for a number of regulatory reforms, including expensing of stock options, broader and more complete disclosure of compensation, greater independence of directors, and empowerment of shareholders. At the same time, he notes that corrective market forces are already at work in the form of companies like Institutional Shareholder Services that monitor corporate governance and decision-making.     

公司并购、盈余管理与高管薪酬变动

基于前人关于上市公司盈余管理影响因素的研究,本文分析了主并方公司并购收益与并购完成后公司盈余管理之间的关系,以及两者对高管货币性薪酬变动的相互作用机制。本文以2007至2012年我国沪深两市发生重大并购的A股上市公司为研究对象,结果发现:在并购完成后,并购收益与公司盈余管理存在负相关关系,即并购收益越低,公司在并购完成后第一、二年进行正向盈余管理的程度越高;盈余管理与并购收益对高管薪酬的变动存在着相互替代的关系,即并购收益越低,盈余管理对促进高管薪酬增长的影响越大。本文的研究丰富了盈余管理和公司并购的理论内涵,并为监管部门以及投资者的决策提供了重要的经验证据。     

Executive Compensation and Corporate Acquisition Decisions

By examining how executive compensation structure determines corporate acquisition decisions, we document a strong positive relation between acquiring managers' equity-based compensation (EBC) and stock price performance around and following acquisition announcements. This relation is highly robust when we control for acquisition mode (mergers), means of payment, managerial ownership, and previous option grants. Compared to low EBC managers, high EBC managers pay lower acquisition premiums, acquire targets with higher growth opportunities, and make acquisitions engendering larger increases in firm risk. EBC significantly explains postacquisition stock price performance even after controlling for acquisition mode, means of payment, and "glamour" versus "value" acquirers.     

Insurer Reserve Error and Executive Compensation

This article investigates incentives of insurance firm managers to manipulate loss reserves in order to maximize their compensation. We find that managers who receive bonuses that are likely capped or no bonuses tend to over‐reserve for current‐year incurred losses. However, managers who receive bonuses that are likely not capped tend to under‐reserve for current‐year incurred losses. We also find that managers who exercise stock options tend to under‐reserve in the current period.     

Executive Remuneration and Corporate Divestment: Motivating Managers to Make Unpalatable Decisions

Abstract:  This study examines the impact of voluntary divestment on executive remuneration, using an unbalanced panel of 107 UK quoted companies over the period 1988 to 1993. It employs a dynamic compensation equation, with a vector of controls and alternative specifications of the divestment effect. The results show no general direct evidence of a remuneration process that rewards managers for downsizing their firms. Indeed the substantial pay-size elasticity implies the reverse. However, divestment does have a positive and significant effect in raising executive remuneration under a regime of strong corporate governance, defined in terms of the presence of a substantial blockholder.     

Agency Costs,Mispricing, and Ownership Structure

Standard theories of ownership assume insiders ultimately bear all agency costs and therefore act to minimize conflicts of interest. However, overvalued equity can offset these costs and induce listings associated with higher agency costs. We explore this possibility by examining a sample of public listings of Japanese subsidiaries. Subsidiaries in which the parent sells a larger stake and subsidiaries with greater scope for expropriation by the parent firm are more overpriced at listing, and minority shareholders fare poorly after listing as mispricing corrects. Parent firms often repurchase subsidiaries at large discounts to valuations at the time of listing and experience positive abnormal returns when repurchases are announced.     

媒体报道与高管薪酬契约有效性

本文利用2003-2011年中国A股上市公司11567个年度观察样本数据,实证检验了媒体报道对公司高管薪酬契约有效性的影响关系,并进一步考察这一影响关系在不同产权性质公司中和不同制度环境下的差异。结果发现:(1)媒体报道水平与高管的薪酬-业绩敏感性之间存在显著的正向影响关系,说明媒体报道提高了高管薪酬契约有效性。(2)区分产权性质后发现,媒体报道的上述正向影响作用仅在国有上市公司样本才显著成立,意味着媒体报道主要提高了国有企业高管的薪酬契约有效性。(3)上市公司所处地区的制度环境水平越高,媒体报道的上述正向影响作用越强,表明制度环境是媒体报道有效发挥上述作用的重要条件。     

Chief Audit Executive as Supervisory Board Member and Executive Compensation Contracts

This paper studies a unique phenomenon in China's corporate governance—that chief audit executives (CAEs) sit on supervisory boards (CAE duality)—and examines its effects on executive compensation contracts. Using a sample of listed firms between 2010 and 2018, we find a significant positive relation between CAE duality and pay-for-performance sensitivity, which suggests that the dual position helps integrate monitoring resources and reduces agency costs. This positive relation is more pronounced when companies face a stricter monitoring environment and in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) than in SOEs. In addition, we find that the recent reforms on compensation strengthen the role of CAE duality in SOEs. Further analysis identifies the reliability of performance information (i.e., earnings quality) and reduced executive self-interested behaviours (i.e., perquisite consumption) as the influencing mechanisms that increase the demand for performance-based compensation and thus improve pay-for-performance sensitivity.