Excerpts from What's on the Minds of Boards Ahead of Shareholder Meetings with Ryan Hourihan

BDO in the Boardroom

Join BDO's Center for Corporate Governance Amy Rojik and Ryan Hourihan, a principal and certified executive compensation professional at Pearl Meyer, as they highlight several key considerations for directors and management teams as they factor in compensation strategies and performance plans in the upcoming cycle and respond to shareholder questions during annual meetings.

Key Takeaways

• Increased discretion exercised by companies around the unplanned impact of COVID-19 as reflected in changes to short-term incentive plan measures and goals continuing through 2021

• Shareholder optics and employee consistency/fairness should factor in heavily to board decisions in compensation strategies

• Business needs may trump proxy advisory needs in setting compensation but the rationale needs to be well disclosed

• Quarterly or semi-annual goals are trending over annual performance period goals in the current environment

• Performance ranges may be broadened – on both the upside and downside – and relative measures among comparative groups may be preferred

• Time-based equity vehicles are getting more attention

• Shifts in business strategy likely require a company to realign incentive programs

Resources:

Access the full recording from the webinar – 2021 What's on The Minds of Boards Ahead of Shareholder Meetings