The CFA Institute sent a letter to the SEC last month suggesting changes to the way proxy votes on executive compensation are handled. The letter expressed disappointment in the regulations and suggested several specific changes:

• Ending “the use of endless and complex legal boiler-plate, and the avoidance of full disclosure by inappropriate claims that compensation metrics are proprietary” to improve the quality and clarity of compensation reports.
• Ending a practice that allows companies to avoid the “full disclosure of their [executive’s] use of company assets such as aircraft and homes, or the awarding of other personal services or products to these senior executives through a perquisites “allowance.’ These executives are then permitted to purchase whatever services they wish.”
• “Strictly limit the ability of companies to use ‘competitive considerations’ as a reason to avoid disclosure of compensation strategy”
• Requiring companies to”disclose the names of specific competitors used by the company to create a benchmark for determining executive compensation” and be required to provide “graphic comparisons” of its performance against its peers.

It will be interesting to see if the SEC takes any of these suggestions to heart, but given the organizations 92,000 members it should at least have some impact...