Power to the Employees
April 30, 2012 by LuAnn Bean
Filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized
While it is traditionally rare for employee-shareholders to exercise their voting power, the winds may be shifting. According to Morgenson, employee-shareholders are banding together to vote against executive pay in this proxy season. Although she is not sure what actual impact their votes had, at Citigroup, shareholders as a group voted down the $15 million paycheck for Vikram Pandit.
Questions:
1. Based on Morgenson’s article, what employee-shareholder action is going on at Wal-Mart?
2. Based on Morgenson’s article, what employee-shareholder action is going on at Verizon?
3. What did you find to be the most interesting item in the article?
Source:
Morgenson, G. (2012). Employees, Too, Want a Say on the Boss’s Pay. The New York Times, April 21 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/employees-too-want-a-say-on-the-bosss-pay.html?_r=1&hp)
Pressure Packages
January 24, 2012 by LuAnn Bean
Filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized
Pressure from financial institutions and Treasury officials undermined an effort to limit executive pay at seven companies rescued with taxpayer money, a new government audit showed on Tuesday. The official overseeing executive pay for bailout firms limited cash compensation and made some reductions in pay, but still approved compensation packages in the millions, the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) inspector general said in the report. Former U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg approved pay packages worth $5 million or more from 2009 to 2011 for 49 top earners, the report said.
Questions:
1. What was the significant leverage that the article said the companies had over Feinberg? Do you agree that this would be significant enough to compromise? Why or why not?
2. What was Feinberg’s title? What does TARP stand for?
3. Who were the companies involved? Which of these have exited the TARP program?
Source:
Reuters Staff. (2012). Bailed-out Companies Pressured TARP Pay Czar to Keep Executive Pay High: Report, Jan. 24 (Retrievable online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/tarp-executive-pay_n_1226485.html?ref=business)
