Compensation growing as governance issue

Executive compensation has become an important issue among investors, said Brian Rogers of T. Rowe Price.

In the wake of the scandals of the early 2000s, executive compensation has become an important corporate governance issue among investors, Brian Rogers, chairman of the board and chief investment officer at the T. Rowe Price Group Inc., said at the Morningstar investment conference Friday.
An estimated 80% of the time, T. Rowe votes with management on compensation issues, Mr. Rogers said.
That is not always the case on the so-called “say on pay” proposals. “In my personal view, I tend not to be supportive of [say on pay],” he said. Say on pay provisions allow shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation.
The issue is better addressed by going directly to members of a firm’s compensation committee rather than through an advisory proposal, Mr. Rogers said.
Most of the time T. Rowe votes in favor of directors and 100% of the time it vote for the process of majority voting, he said.
The Baltimore-based fund firm voted on approximately 3,400 proxies in the last proxy season alone.