Sixth annual Australian board and executive remuneration survey released: fewer boards get raises
Governance Institute, in collaboration with McGuirk Management Consultants (MMC), is announcing the results of their 6th Australian board and executive remuneration survey.
This survey of remuneration data covering 1,181 boards is current to the financial year ending 30 June 2018. Governance Institute and MMC collected data from 475 online contributors, mostly Governance Institute members or subscribers, 341 boards who are ongoing contributors to the survey and 365 client boards of MMC.
‘The survey found that only 30 per cent of boards for ASX listed companies received pay increases,’ says Governance Institute’s chief executive Steven Burrell. ‘That is fewer boards handing out raises than we have seen in the past. This may indicate that in a time of stagnant wages for many Australian workers, and a harsh spotlight falling on corporate cultures, that taking a conservative approach to board remuneration is a chance to set the tone from the top’ he said.
Governance professionals and other senior executives, including managing directors, CEOs, CROs, general counsels and company secretaries fared better than directors seeing a median pay rise of 2.2 per cent.
The average annual package for company secretaries at ASX 200 companies was $284,566 while at small listed companies it was $187,974; at charities is was $114,795 and superannuation funds $227,513.
Terry McGuirk, of McGuirk Management Consultants and author of the study believes that having a knowledge of this remuneration data will enable users to make a more accurate comparison of the levels of remuneration on their boards or among their executives with ‘market place’ benchmarks.
Of boards that did receive pay raises, those of listed companies saw five per cent increases, super funds’ boards 4.4 per cent, unlisted and private companies four per cent, government boards 2.5 per cent and NFPs two per cent.
Overall, and looking at all types and sizes of organisations whether listed or not, the average pay was $101,653 for a chair and $50,690 for a director. The average was $475,477 for a managing director and $308,386 for a CEO.
A copy of the report is available to media upon request.
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Media contact: media@governanceinstitute.com.au