"Consensus from business leaders around the world is that executive compensation is too high‚ which pinpoints an important issue amid challenging global economic circumstances‚" Jeanette Hern‚ partner and head of corporate finance at Grant Thornton SA said.
The survey revealed business leaders' need for greater oversight‚ transparency and accountability in public companies from both a local and global standpoint.
Separation of roles was also of considerable concern globally‚ with 90% of South African respondents saying that the roles of chief executive and chairman should be held by different people to ensure greater oversight.
For each question in the survey‚ South Africa scored higher than its global and Bric counterparts‚ highlighting local business leaders' significant concern over insufficient oversight measures and issues related to executive remuneration.
Just over 80% of South African business leaders agreed that shareholders should have greater involvement in establishing remuneration policies for senior executives at public companies‚ well ahead of the global response of 67%.
Most South Africans responded "yes" when asked whether large public companies should disclose the remuneration policy and individual remuneration of directors (87%)‚ 10% higher than the global average.
"Investors have been hurt by the crises and tough global economic conditions characterising the past five years‚" said Hern.
"They want to know how their money is being spent and whether executives' remuneration is in line with performance."
Respondents in South Africa agreed that executive pay should be directly linked to performance‚ compared with almost 90% globally and 92% in Bric nations.
"In SA and abroad‚ public companies will face growing scrutiny from the community‚ investors and industry. These businesses need to ensure that their policies are known‚ understood and transparent‚ and that reward can be justified by performance‚" Hern concluded.
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