Executive and board pay rises as companies work to attract and retain key talent.

Businesses have the incredible task of balancing their compensation practices with industry standards and a rapidly evolving business landscape. Intensifying scrutiny around board and executive pay practices, heightened focus on ESG issues, increased demand for talent and evolving accounting, regulatory and tax requirements create new and ongoing challenges.

A deep understanding of executive and board director compensation trends has never been more critical to attract and retain the experienced talent businesses need to succeed in this dynamic and complex environment.

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The BDO 600 examines compensation plans and pay levels of 600 mid-market public companies — a unique feature, as most compensation studies focus on much larger companies. The study is broken into two reports, CEO and CFO Compensation and Board Compensation, and includes comparisons by company size and these industries.

Energy 
ENERGY

Financial Services - nonbanking 
FINANCIAL SERVICES -
NONBANKING

Manufacturing 
MANUFACTURING

Retail 
RETAIL

Financial Services - banking 
FINANCIAL SERVICES - 
BANKING

Healthcare and Life Sciences 
HEALTHCARE AND
LIFE SCIENCES

Real Estate 
REAL ESTATE

Technology 
TECHNOLOGY


The data in these reports, while a snapshot in time, can be a useful benchmarking resource to compare compensation practices to public companies in a similar industry and size range. For private companies planning to go public, these studies provide insight into the structure of public company executive compensation packages, which can vary greatly from that of a private company.

CEO and CFO Compensation

The impact COVID-19 has had on executive compensation varies widely by industry. On average, executives appear to have profited during the pandemic; however, this year, more than ever, our report found pronounced differences in pay by industry. This report focuses on pay levels as reported in the 2021 proxies, which reflect the compensation arrangements as influenced by the COVID-19 environment. According to our study, in fiscal year 2020:

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Board Director Compensation

The global pandemic has disrupted and amplified the role of boards across industries. While directors’ traditional roles of strategic planning and risk management had already been undergoing an evolution, COVID-19 challenges exponentially increased the time they had to invest into their companies. This report represents pay policies in place while companies were experiencing the full effects of the pandemic. According to our study, in fiscal year 2020:

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