Legislation on fat cat pay unlikely
The government has signalled that it will not introduce legislation imposing statutory curbs on excessive pay-offs to failed executives.
Link: Reward Success Compensate Failure
Despite pressure from unions for legislation on this matter, Jacqui Smith, DTI minister, said the problem was not going to be solved by legislation.
Rather the government is planning on introducing new rules to help shareholders put pressure on company boards, rather than cap the payments itself.
This follows the Confederation of British Industry urging business leaders to disclose the contractual terms of their agreements with new executives as part of its efforts to curb rewards for failure and rebuild the tattered reputation of UK plc.
At the same time, the FT reported that legislation limiting the liability of the Big Four is unlikely to be introduced in the autumn.
Firms will have to wait till 2005 at the earliest, when the main company law reform bill is due to be published.