Toward Fairness in Compensation of Management and Labor: Compensation Ratios, A Proposal for Disclosure

This article will discuss the general history of executive compensation and the concept of "excessive compensation" as it has developed in corporate America. The article advocates a change in current SEC disclosure requirements which are set out in Appendix A of this article. The development of ratios as a tool of financial analysis is discussed to establish the legitimacy of their use. The author then offers an example of a stockholder proposal to make use of compensation ratios.