The adoption of voluntary Say-on-Pay
Résumé
Say-on-Pay (SOP) gives shareholders the right to vote on executive compensation.
Unlike in a number of other western countries, SOP is not prescribed by regulation in
Canada, although more and more firms are now adopting this practice voluntarily. We
take advantage of this legal context to first examine the characteristics of firms that
have voluntarily adopted SOP. Secondly, we examine whether shareholders’ votes are
linked to the extent and specifics of the compensation granted; and thirdly, we
determine whether the votes cast affect executive compensation growth in the next
year. The statistical analyses are based on a sample of 744 observations covering the
years from 2013 to 2017. Results suggest that the firms that have voluntary adopted
SOP differ significantly in several ways from those that have not. SOP vote results
appear to be negatively related to the level and growth of total CEO compensation and
its components involving immediate cash outflows. The vote does not seem to impact
executive compensation and its components in the following year.
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