2007 is the first year that companies must divulge in their annual proxy statements all of the lavish perquisites they offer their highest-paid executives—ranging from the personal use of corporate aircrafts, helicopters, and cars to company-paid country club memberships and home alarm systems. And according to a Compliance Week analysis of the perks offered by 250 large companies included in the S&P 500, such spending is way, way up.
The increased disclosure has caused spending on “all other compensation” for executives to balloon from a median $269,640 in 2005 to $787,200 in 2006. Average “all other compensation”—skewed by several extremely large amounts from a few companies—went from $985,900 to $2.32 million.
