CEO Pay: A corporate governance commentary

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• Boss 8 years ago

  Thanks Robert for the article. Well written. However, there is a huge shortfall in it. The article mainly talks about executive compensation in the private sector hence your examples of Goldmansachs etc. These are mainly prof ...
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  Thanks Robert for the article. Well written. However, there is a huge shortfall in it. The article mainly talks about executive compensation in the private sector hence your examples of Goldmansachs etc. These are mainly profit driven institutions where executive compensation is mainly from company activities. This is very different from running a government where service and not profit is the goal. Compensations therefore are paid by the tax payer. Usually compensations at the executive level are very much lower. You will need to look at such a sector in the countries mentioned to have a fair comparison otherwise you are comparing apples to oranges.

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• Kweku 8 years ago

  ... he didn't make any sharp distinctions in principle between it and the private sector.
  
  But you're right, Boss, that he should have concentrated on the govt sector companies where the salaries are derived from the tax p ...
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  ... he didn't make any sharp distinctions in principle between it and the private sector.
  
  But you're right, Boss, that he should have concentrated on the govt sector companies where the salaries are derived from the tax payer rather than from the earnings generated by the company. This is the crux of the Ghana issue where we are talking about the pay of the governor of the Bank of Ghana rather than that of the CEO of Vodafone Ghana. Cocobod is also a government monopoly of the sale of one of our top export earners - not a traded company on our stock exchange.
  
  There are very serious issues with the case in Ghana that the author failed to discuss. There seems to be an unhealthy collusion between certain individuals who are politically connected and the ruling government which appoints both the CEOs in question as well as the board members that approve these huge salaries for mutual benefits. Moreover, these CEOs are not rare "star performers" who have the magic touch of turning ailing companies around to profitability. The guys earning these huge salaries are very very ordinary. For each of them, there are lots of equally qualified Ghanaian others who can even do better at the same post for far less pay.
  
  In the private sector, non-performing ceos are sacked. In the public sector companies that we are talking of, ceos are sacked only if there's a change of government, not when they don't meet performance targets.
  
  I think these are things that need to be discussed. Then, of course, we can also look at CEO pay in the private sector in Ghana as Robert has attempted to do. But then that is a somewhat different topic and one that could have been discussed by examining the actual practice pertaining in ghana before making comparisons and recommendations.

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• Sir Kelly 8 years ago

  Very educative. However, the CEOs of the various State owned enterprises salaries should be set by Fair wages and Salaries commission and also be paid through the CAGD. This to some extend will do away with the current politi ...
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  Very educative. However, the CEOs of the various State owned enterprises salaries should be set by Fair wages and Salaries commission and also be paid through the CAGD. This to some extend will do away with the current politically influenced salaries to pay ''party dues'' .

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• Stormborn 8 years ago

  Hey dude/babe. Good day! Think about it - 4 whole months gone! 4 months!!! If you can, why not? If I told U each 5 mins, U have the potential to pick at least N5000 ($15) from a walk-in customer for that smartphone or tablet ...
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  Hey dude/babe. Good day! Think about it - 4 whole months gone! 4 months!!! If you can, why not? If I told U each 5 mins, U have the potential to pick at least N5000 ($15) from a walk-in customer for that smartphone or tablet fix, will U still be home idle? Very common and true with this business! Learn today. Get " Mobile Phones & Tablets Repairs : A Complete Guide for Beginners and Professionals " from Amazon marketplaces, Barnes & Noble, eBay etc. Sure bet!

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• Nana Yaw Osei (Padigo), USA 8 years ago

  Thank you Mr. Writer. I think there is a huge conflict of interest in the Ghana public institutions. The practice wherein CEOs of state institutions sit on the board that discusses their own salaries and emoluments must be sc ...
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  Thank you Mr. Writer. I think there is a huge conflict of interest in the Ghana public institutions. The practice wherein CEOs of state institutions sit on the board that discusses their own salaries and emoluments must be scrapped. How can CEOs of public institutions be earning more than the President?

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• KAB 8 years ago

  The President's salary is fixed from outside. CEOs, even of public institutions, can negotiate their own salaries and there is no rule that these shouldn't be more than what the head of state earns.
  
  CEOs of state institut ...
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  The President's salary is fixed from outside. CEOs, even of public institutions, can negotiate their own salaries and there is no rule that these shouldn't be more than what the head of state earns.
  
  CEOs of state institutions do not sit on the boards that discuss and agree on their emoluments. They can negotiate these emoluments with the board but the board must vote (without the CEO) to approve such emoluments. Often there is a committee of the board that headhunts a CEO. An outgoing CEO can be part of this committee.
  
  The problem with the Ghana case is that the emoluments so agreed are out of all proportion to the actual work being done by the said CEOs. If it is purely state utility that is not profit oriented, there is no way their salaries should compare with the CEOs of privately owned companies. If it is a PPP where government is not holding the controlling shares, then the CEO pay can be high as long as government is satisfied with the returns on its investment.
  
  Moreover, the CEOs in such institutions are imposed by government as political favours. The jobs are not advertised for the best hands to apply.
  
  The NPP is also proceeding on the same path - imposing CEOs of choice on the institutions. Appointments by fiat!

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