The black box of executive compensation

The remuneration practices of DAX companies are extremely intransparent. It is impossible to fully comprehend the origin of the salary from any single board member. Due to the high degree of intransparency, it remains unclear whether the members of the executive board are incentivized in a purposeful manner. A examination is impossible. The compensation report of HeidelbergCement is the most transparent, the reports of Adidas, SAP and ProSiebenSat1 the most intransparent.

While there is much discussion about the amount and appropriateness of executive compensation, the much more important question of the origin of salaries usually plays a secondary role. Above all, the origin of performance-related remuneration, which accounts for a about two thirds of the total remuneration of DAX companies, should be of interest to stakeholders, as it ensures that the executive board acts in their interest.

This study deals with the question of how transparent the origin of the performance-related compensation of the executive board of DAX companies is. The origin is transparent if sufficient information is available to enable an external party to reconstruct the level of salaries. This requires information in the following four dimensions: Observability of the performance criteria, disclosure of the agreed targets, weighting of the criteria and the relation of pay and performance (pay-for-performance).

Please note: this study is only available in German.