Valuation of share-based remuneration:  importance of underlying assumptions There are particular circumstances when a company needs to calculate a fair value of share options or performance share awards.  As the majority of performance shares in the UK are structured as nil-cost options this article refers throughout to options only. The most common circumstances are: 1.…

November 27, 2018 Read more >

Largest AIM companies stick with UK Corporate Governance Code AIM companies are required to adopt a recognised corporate governance code – which one do they choose? One of the main attractions of listing on the AIM market is the reduced regulatory requirements compared to a main market listing, but do the biggest AIM companies take…

November 26, 2018 Read more >

Are chief executives overpaid? In October 2018, Deborah Hargreaves published a new book, under the title “Are Chief Executives Overpaid?”. The question, of course, is rhetorical. Hargreaves is an ex Guardian business editor and FT journalist who has made it her life’s work to attack fat cat pay, which she believes is having a corrosive…

October 24, 2018 Read more >

Irish salaries beat UK salaries MM&K recently compared data from the Willis Towers Watson cross industry databases to find out how salaries compare between Ireland and the UK. The chart below compares UK and Irish employees’ salaries to their ‘Global Grade’ (the Willis Towers Watson Global Grading system assigns a job size to employees’ roles).…

October 24, 2018 Read more >

Value Creation Plans – genuine attempts at designing executive LTIPs or too complex to explain? Some years ago, I attended the AGM of one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets. A shareholder asked a question about the proposed new executive LTIP. After a pause, one of the non-executives stood up and replied “it is too complex…

October 23, 2018 Read more >

Negative Feedback is Good for You It is curious how many technical expressions slip into the common language with a meaning entirely different from their true meaning – and often opposite. A couple of examples are “epicentre” and “lowest common denominator”.  People commonly use “epicentre” to mean the very heart of the centre.  The press…

October 18, 2018 Read more >

How will Remuneration Committees cope with their expanded remit? Changes to UK corporate governance guidance and disclosure regulations introduced this summer have expanded the remit of remuneration committees. The effects reach beyond quoted companies. We have designed a programme to help navigate through the added complexity. The UK Corporate Governance Code (UKCGC), applicable to companies…

September 27, 2018 Read more >

Commons Committee on the tail of the fat cats again The Commons Committee is chasing a myth again. Its chair, Rachel Reeves, has told the Mail on Sunday that the Committee is going to ramp up its attack on fat cats this autumn. She believes that executive pay is increasing at a rate that vastly…

September 27, 2018 Read more >

Governance landscape at a glance “the most eventful year in history” 2018 has been, probably, the most eventful year in UK history on remuneration governance. The year saw the culmination of the Government’s wide initiative on corporate governance reform, with a revised UK Corporate Governance Code published by the FRC in July and new corporate…

September 27, 2018 Read more >

Pay Ratios Disclosure Regulations Which companies do the pay ratio requirements apply to? Quoted companies (not AIM companies) with >250 UK employees (average no. over the financial year). This includes all UK employees who have a contract of service with the company, regardless of hours worked, although it is the FTE pay figure that is…

August 29, 2018 Read more >

The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018 On 11 June the Government put before Parliament a substantial and important statutory instrument, “The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018” (2018  Regulations) which gives effect to a wide range of corporate governance reporting improvements that BEIS has been working on ever since its Corporate Governance Green Paper of 29…

July 16, 2018 Read more >

Making Executive bonus plans more effective On 11 June 2018, MM&K hosted one of its regular dinners for Company Chairman, Non-executive Directors and Chief Executives. The topic for discussion at the dinner was “making executive bonus plans more effective”. A note of the discussion (which was held under the Chatham House Rule) can be accessed…

June 12, 2018 Read more >