Public listed companies urged to cut down fat perks and bonuses
Investors and businessmen have urged the public shareholding companies to cut down on the fat perks and bonuses that they have been offering to senior executives and board members as incentives.
The critics have also demanded that the listed companies maintain more transparency and reveal their yearly financial details to public.
Appreciating the initiative by the Advisory Council, the critics are even debating that it was these huge allowances and bonuses that few companies in the West gave to their senior executives that triggered the devastating financial turbulence worldwide and also led the companies to collapse.
The Advisory Council’s decision is in the right direction, as it ensures that Qatar remains free of any crisis, caused by the generosity of major listed companies to their senior management members, the critics commented.
There should be a clear indication of eligibility criteria and slabs for giving away annual bonuses and perks to senior executives of a Qatari public shareholding company, the businessmen said.
Also, the perks should be associated with productivity and efficiency of a board member or senior executive, they said.
The Article 118 of Qatar’s Commercial Law (Number 5 of 2002) clearly indicates that allowances and perks when given away by companies to senior executives and board members should not exceed 10 percent of their annual profits.
The CEO of Qatar-Oman Company, Mohamed Nasser Al Mansouri, said that a more comprehensive law is required to monitor the allowances and perks admissible to senior executives in the country, he said.
The Executive Director of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) also appreciated the move by Advisory Council and said it is aptly timed, and pointed out to banks for giving largesse to their board members.
Another leading businessman also went a step ahead and said the bye-laws of listed companies needs to be reviewed and must be made compulsory to announce perks and bonus admissible to their senior staff and board members.
Posted on 28/12/2009