As compensation committees prepare for their fall meetings and the upcoming proxy season, one item that will undoubtedly be near the top of the agenda is shareholder advisory or “say on pay” votes, which will be mandatory for annual shareholder meetings in 2011, thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act.
While SOP has been the topic of much conversation, whether or not companies are prepared to put their pay programs to a vote is another issue. Just 12 percent of some 251 executives responding to a June survey by Towers Watson said they felt very well prepared to put their executive pay programs up to a vote, and another 46 percent said they were only somewhat prepared.
