Changes in South African executive share-based remuneration

Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Changes in South African executive share-based remuneration
 
Creator Steenkamp, Gretha Wesson, Nicolene
 
Subject share-based remuneration; executive directors; directors’ remuneration; institutional theory; IFRS 2; recession; share options; share-appreciation rights; share purchase plans; performance shares
Description Orientation: Institutional theory proposes that companies respond to environmental factors (such as changes in accounting requirements and the economy) in order to gain or retain legitimacy. As such, environmental factors can affect executive remuneration paid by companies.Research purpose: The purpose was to determine whether the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 2 as well as the financial recession affected the characteristics of share-based remuneration paid to South African executives.Motivation for the study: Stakeholders should be aware of whether environmental factors influence business practice relating to share-based remuneration (especially in an emerging economy, such as South Africa, where international evidence might not be applicable).Research design/approach and method: Share-based remuneration details of the chief executive officers of 28 South African listed companies were obtained for the period 2002–2009 (these dates were chosen to include both the effective date of IFRS 2 and the financial recession). Data were analysed (using analysis of variance and generalised estimating equalisation techniques) to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in the share-based executive remuneration between the period before and after the effective date of IFRS 2, as well as before and during the financial recession.Main findings: Share options usage decreased after the effective date of IFRS 2, and even further during the recession. Share-appreciation rights were increasingly used after the effective date of IFRS 2 and seemed to have replaced share options subsequent to the implementation of IFRS 2. The use of share purchase plans decreased during the recession and was replaced by performance shares. Performance vesting conditions were more prevalent in share-based remuneration schemes in the post-IFRS 2 period.Practical/managerial implications: Shareholders and regulators should take cognisance of the fact that business practice in respect of share-based remuneration is affected by new accounting standards and the economy.Contribution/value-add: This study addressed the knowledge gap in the literature regarding the effect of IFRS 2 and recession on executive share-based remuneration in emerging economies, and specifically in South Africa.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor None
Date 2018-11-29
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion —
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jef.v11i1.216
 
Source Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences; Vol 11, No 1 (2018); 12 pages 2312-2803 1995-7076
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/216/528 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/216/527 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/216/529 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/216/521
 
Rights Copyright (c) 2018 Nicolene Wesson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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