The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation, Fourth Edition

Preface
Acknowledgments 

CHAPTER 1 Executive Compensation Framework 
CHAPTER 2 Performance Measurements and Standards 
CHAPTER 3 Current versus Deferred Compensation 
CHAPTER 4 The Stakeholders 
CHAPTER 5 Salary 
CHAPTER 6 Employee Benefits and Perquisites 
CHAPTER 7 Short-Term Incentives 
CHAPTER 8 Long-Term Incentives 
CHAPTER 9 Design and Communication Considerations 
CHAPTER 10 The Board of Directors 
CHAPTER 11 The Past, Present, and Future 
CHAPTER 12 Summaries 

Appendix A: Timeline of Events 
Appendix B: U.S. Presidents 
Appendix C: The Constitution of the United States of America 
Appendix D: Amendments to the Constitution of
the United States of America 
Appendix E: Selected Accounting Interpretations 
Appendix F: Selected Laws 
Appendix G: Selected Internal Revenue Code Sections 
Appendix H: Selected Internal Revenue Rulings 
Appendix I: Selected SEC Actions 
Appendix J: Selected U.S. Supreme Court Decisions 
Appendix K: Selected Books 
Appendix L: Consumer Price Index 
Appendix M: Dow Jones Industrial Averages 
Appendix N: NASDAQ Averages 
Appendix O: S&P 500 Averages 
Appendix P: Social Security Tax Table 
Appendix Q: Glossary 

Index 
About the Author 

The definitive guide to executive compensation—fully updated and revised to reflect today’s business environment

Executive pay is one of the most fluid, flexible, and important aspects of today’s corporate landscape, and an integral part of every company’s strategic business plan. The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation has long been considered the go-to guide to executive pay. Written by renowned compensation expert Bruce Ellig, the book is filled with winning strategies and techniques for structuring appropriate executive pay plans.

This updated fourth edition addresses important changes that have occurred from 2013 to 2019 in designing and administering compensation packages. In detail, Ellig discusses executive pay elements, including salary, employee benefits, executive benefits, and long- and short term incentives. He also examines the role of the board of directors and its compensation committee, along with the influence of the major stakeholders (most notably the shareholder).

The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation, Fourth Edition covers:

• New rulings and laws, such as the 2018 Tax Act and recent changes in proxy statements required by the SEC
• Changes in healthcare and pension requirements
• Executive pay elements and contributing factors
• The difference between current and deferred compensation, including statutory requirements
• Various performance measurements of the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement that are used in incentive plan payouts

The book also includes appendices of selected laws, Internal Revenue Code sections, IRS revenue rulings, SEC actions, accounting interpretations, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, selected books, history of CPI, DJIA, NASDAQ, S&P 500 Averages, and Social Security taxes, as well as a glossary with more than 2,000 definitions.

The Complete Guide to Executive Compensation addresses a wide range of needs and readers. Consultants and in-house pay designers will find detailed examples (supplemented with over 400 charts and tables) to trigger their own creativity.

Boards of directors and compensation committees will benefit from the definitions and descriptions of various pay plans and the conditions under which they would be appropriate. Executives will find valuable tools here to help them understand their own pay plans. This is an essential resource for consultants, legislators, in-house designers, approvers, shareholders, executives, and educators.

Whether you’re an executive or a designer, approver, or administrator of executive pay plans, this welcome fourth edition of the classic guide thoroughly reframes the picture of executive compensation for the modern age.