Research Reports
Since its founding in 1973, FW Cook has published annual reports that offer in-depth analysis of executive compensation trends, providing trusted, data-driven insights to inform sound decision-making.
2026 Top 250 Annual Incentive Plan Report
Research Report | By Ian Kim, Grant Donaldson, Alec Lentz
FW Cook reviews the annual incentive design and outcomes at the 250 largest companies in the S&P 500 by market capitalization. The report examines trends over the past four years in plan design, financial and non-financial measures, goal-setting practices, payout ranges, and actual payouts.
2026 Top 100 REITs Incentive Plan Design Practices Review
Research Report | By Julian Grossman, Zian Chen, Cimi Silverberg
Our inaugural Incentive Plan Design Practices Review examines executive annual and long-term incentive program design among the Top 100 publicly traded REITs. The report analyzes performance measures and weightings, payout ranges, long-term incentive grant vehicles and mix, TSR measurement approaches, performance periods, and time-based vesting practices.
2026 Director Compensation Report
Research Report | By Daisy Laska, Stephanie Lane, Ted Simmons
FW Cook’s 2026 Director Compensation Report studies non-employee director compensation practices at 300 companies of various sizes and industries to analyze market practices in pay levels and program structure.
Retaining the C-Suite After CEO Turnover
Research Report | By Marco Pizzitola, Desmond Pang, Joe Sorrentino
Ensuring stability across the leadership team is an important factor in executing proper CEO succession, particularly as it applies to high-value individuals that may have been considered as CEO candidates themselves.
2025 Top 250 Report
Research Report | By Sarah Lindenberg Cohen, Tom Kohn, Rachel Chiu
The 53rd edition of the Top 250 Report explores executive long-term incentive practices at the 250 largest companies by market capitalization, with an emphasis on how prolonged 5-year market volatility and uncertainty has influenced and shaped plan design and structure.
2025 Top 250 Annual Incentive Plan Report
Research Report | By Warren Suh, Ezra Womark, Rachel Gibbons
FW Cook’s 2025 Annual Incentive Plan Report provides a comprehensive review of the annual incentive plans of the top 250 largest companies in the S&P 500 by market capitalization.
2025 Executive Perquisites Report
Research Report | By Tyler Janney, Matt Dempsey, Jeanie Downs, Elaine Fouts, Jack Walsh, Alex Weinstock
FW Cook’s inaugural 2025 Executive Perquisites Report analyzes the prevalence and value of perquisites at S&P 100 companies from 2021 to 2024, focusing on CEOs and average other Named Executive Officers (NEOs).
2025 Director Compensation Report
Research Report | By Eric Graves, Nico Braverman, Serdar Sikca, Steven Cross
FW Cook’s 2025 Director Compensation Report studies non-employee director compensation practices at 300 companies of various sizes and industries to analyze market practices in pay levels and program structure.
Global Top 250 Compensation Survey 2024
Research Report | By Marco Pizzitola, Stephen Hom, David Cole
This third edition of the Global Top 250 Compensation Survey presents information on compensation levels for the CEO and CFO, the design of long-term incentives, and share usage at the 250 largest listed companies globally.
2024 Top 250 Report
Research Report | By Lauren Shatanof, James Lutz, Voytek Sokolowski
FW Cook presents information on long-term incentives granted to executives at the 250 largest U.S. companies in the S&P 500 Index, with special focus on trends over the last five years.
2024 Aggregate Share-Based Compensation Report
Research Report | By Blake Davidson, Austin Lee
Our research focused on 300 companies spread across five industry groups and divided equally among small-, mid- and large-cap segments. Covering the three-year period from 2021 to 2023, the key findings of our 2024 aggregate share-based compensation study are as follows.
2024 Top 250 Annual Incentive Plan Report
Research Report | By Jose Furman, Ian Kim, Michael Kenney
FW Cook provides a comprehensive review of the annual incentive plans of the top 250 largest companies in the S&P 500 by market capitalization. Annual incentive plans are critical tools used to align executive compensation with a company’s short-term goals and support talent attraction, motivation and retention objectives.
Executive Compensation Data
With our in-house compensation data analytics, you benefit from the market’s most accurate and comprehensive data…