The Conference Board's Task Force on Executive Compensation has issued its report, available here. It sets out 5 "guiding principles," whose level of generality makes them relatively useless as operational guidance:
Principle One—Paying for the right things and paying for performance
Compensation programs should be designed to drive a company’s business strategy and objectives and create shareholder value, consistent with an acceptable risk profile and through legal and ethical means. To that end, a significant portion of pay should be incentive compensation, with payouts demonstrably tied to performance and paid only when performance can be reasonably assessed.
Principle Two—The “right” total compensation
Total compensation should be attractive to executives, affordable for the company, proportional to the executive’s contribution, and fair to shareholders and employees, while providing payouts clearly aligned with actual performance.
Principle Three—Avoid controversial pay practices
Companies should avoid controversial pay practices, unless special justification is present.
Principle Four—Credible board oversight of executive compensation
Compensation committees should demonstrate credible oversight of executive compensation. To effectively fulfill this role, compensation committees should be independent, experienced, and knowledgeable about the company’s business.
Principle Five—Transparent communications and increased dialogue with shareholders
Compensation should be transparent, understandable, and effectively communicated to shareholders. When questions arise, boards and shareholders should have meaningful dialogue about executive compensation.
While it's mostly pablum, it does provide a set of generic best practices. In addition, there is some useful stuff in the appendices.
