Enough is enough. That's the message shareholders have sent to boards of directors -- causing a downward shift in executive compensation. "Slowly but surely the screws are tightening down on boards of directors of public companies to stand up for what's right for the stockholders," said Paul Dorf, managing director of Compensation Resources. Exorbitant salaries are inappropriate, he said. "We're seeing a definite shift in compensation -- given the downward trend from last year and this year." Although the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is six years old, he said, "we're seeing the culmination of it now. It's finally coming to a head." Since transparency has been mandated, it's difficult to prove a portion of compensation is so confidential that it cannot be disclosed. This, of course, causes all aspects of executive compensation to be scrutinized. "Giving stock away has come to a screeching halt," Dorf said. "Stock used to be given out in 1,000- or 100,000-share increments -- now they set a monetary limit on it, say, the value of $60,000 worth of shares." And the Securities and Exchange Commission returns "compensation discussion and analysis" reports to companies -- insisting they be rewritten in "plain English," Dorf said. Some compensation elements were embarrassing, he said, when they came to light -- from divorce settlements, to gross-ups to Wall Street Journal subscriptions. And often executives retire and are re-hired as consulta ...
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