Study conducted by The Conference Board, NASDAQ, and the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University shows that proxy advisory firms have a substantial impact on the design of executive compensation programs. More than two-thirds of U.S. companies say that their executive compensation program is influenced by the policies and voting recommendations of proxy voting advisors like Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, according to new research from The Conference Board, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., and Stanford University’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance. In particular, a majority of corporate boards are likely to change CEO compensation to gain a favorable “say-on-pay” recommendation from these firms. The research — published in the latest issue of The Conference Board’s Director Notesopen in new window — is based on a survey of 110 large and mid-cap public companies conducted this winter.
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