Publication
Research Report
2016 Annual Incentive Plan Report
Research Report | By James Garriga
Annual incentive plans play a key role in motivating and focusing employees on a company’s short-term goals. Key considerations for designing an annual incentive plan are selecting the appropriate performance measures and deciding how they should be weighted.
2016 Top 250 Report
Research Report | By Warren Suh
This 44th annual FW Cook Top 250 Report details the long-term incentive practices of the 250 largest companies in the S&P 500. Notable trends and key findings from this year’s study are found within the report.
2016 Director Compensation Report
Research Report | By Eric Graves, Tom Kohn, Eric Winikoff
FW Cook’s 2016 Director Compensation Report studies non-employee director compensation at 300 companies of various sizes and industries to analyze market practices in pay levels and program structure.
Executive Severance and Change-In-Control Practices
Research Report | By Dana Etra, Erin Bass-Goldberg
Severance practices for executives have changed significantly in recent years, both in CIC and non-CIC situations. As a result of this changing landscape, the past few years have seen notable severance practice reform. This study examines severance and CIC practices for CEO and CFO at 200 large- and mid-cap public companies across multiple industries.
2015 Top 250 Report
Research Report | By Edward Graskamp
The 43rd annual Top 250 Report, details the long-term incentive practices of the 250 largest companies in the S&P 500. Notable trends and key findings from this year’s study may be found in the report.
The Corporate Governance Study
Research Report | By Cimi Silverberg
In an effort to help navigate the evolving area of corporate governance, we are pleased to present our 2015 Corporate Governance Study on executive compensation-related corporate governance practices among Top 250 companies. This study covers three main areas: anti-hedging and anti-pledging policies, compensation recovery (“clawback”) policies, and executive stock ownership guidelines.
2015 Director Compensation Report
Research Report | By Alec Lentz
FW Cook studied non-employee director compensation programs at 300 companies of various sizes and industries. This report summarizes pay levels and program structure. We observe a 4% year-over-year increase in total pay at the median, along with a growing preference for simplicity that began several years ago at large-cap companies and is now common throughout the market.
2015 Aggregate Share-Based Compensation Report
Research Report | By Ted Simmons
S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI, Inc. recently announced changes to the Global Industry Classification Standard (“GICS”) structure that will go into effect on March 17, 2023. As such, changes to the GICS structure may affect ISS’ analyses on the following topics…