Pay for compensation and audit committees soars

The latest survey of board pay has found that--no surprise here--compensation continues to soar. Directors of major U.S. companies were paid an average $204,000 last year. That's up 12 percent from the previous year. It also marks the third straight year of double-digit growth. One wrinkle is that the biggest increases did not go to audit committee members, who still fared well with a median 9 percent increase. The big winners were compensation committee members, who received a median raise of 18 percent. It seems that the new pay disclosure regulations will be to compensation committee members what Sarbox was to audit committee members--a pressure headache and justification for higher pay. Of course, Sarbox overhangs the entire board. The pay is higher, but so is the stress.

For more on director pay:
- Here's an article about Pearl Meyer & Partners latest study