CEO pay and its disclosure

Lots of media coverage of CEO pay, especially in light of the Pacific Brands decision to move some operations to China. Here's an example.

Michael West in the Herald also chimes in.

Two quick thoughts:
1. Why should government-imposed 'caps' on pay be limited to the business sector (or more particularly, to firms that receive some sort of government assistance)? Why not entertainers, or sportsmen who receive say Australian Institute of Sport assistance. Let's at least be consistent.

2. In the case of Pacific Brands, the bonuses in question appear to have been earned in 2007-08, which happened to be a record year for the company.

Directors' fee disclosure

Stuart Wilson in the Australian warns shareholders to be careful of automatically approving increases in directors' fees. We know that fees are related to firm size, but Wilson notes that a company should be outperforming its peers if directors fees are higher than its competitors.