Golden Parachutes

There is news that the former AIG CEO has refused his $22 million severance package. Gee, perhaps he didn’t like the fact that executive pay is finally coming under scrutiny. I have no problem with a CEO making good compensation as it sort of goes with the territory. Do well, provide for employees and grow the company. I do have a problem with company leadership profiting while a company tanks.

As a taxpayer, I now own a bunch of mortgage and insurance companies….and soon a whole bunch of foreclosed properties. That is, once the government buys all of the bad debts from banks and let’s them start fresh. Nice touch. Maybe our suppliers will ask that we remove late deliveries and rejects from their supplier performance reports and allow them to start over. Make belive that they didn’t happen. The precedent has sure been set.

I’m sure this economic turmoil is not making your professional life very nice these days, say nothing of your personal economic conditions. Look for more stringent credit terms, poorer cash flow, and more caution opening accounts with new suppliers. Something tells me that we will see a lot more ‘credit holds’ on our accounts that move past that magic 30 day number. Relationships are great but as they say cash is king.

Dealing with a lot of public companies? Check out their executive compensation on the Executive Compensation Disclosure site from the Security and Exchange Commission. It might prompt an interesting discussion with your suppliers. Or your colleagues.