Mr Sam Kovacevic believes executive remuneration is highly subjective.

With Australia now boasting one of the highest levels of share ownership in the world, it is not surprising that the corporate sector is experiencing greater public scrutiny than ever before.

But it is the ongoing debate over executive salaries - a debate that has been refuelled by new rules for the disclosure of top executive remuneration - that caught the interest of Monash PhD student Mr Sam Kovacevic.

As a result of this interest, Mr Kovacevic, who is based in the Department of Management, is conducting a study that aims to describe and explain the policies and practices involved in the reward of Australian executives by focusing on company remuneration committees.

According to Mr Kovacevic, the common sentiment of the Australian public is that there is little connection between the high levels of pay that CEOs receive and their performance in a company.

In order to address this perception appropriately, his research offers an objective side-step from the usual coverage the issue has received. "I'm trying to understand the relationship between the executive remuneration committee - the group charged with formulating, appraising and re-formulating executive and director pay - and what executives are paid," he said.

"The business media tends to discuss pay in a somewhat emotional and perhaps unfair fashion. My research is largely focused on explaining the relationships between executive pay and company performance.

" Mr Kovacevic's study is assessing the existing theories applied and tested in executive pay research, and proposes that the executive remuneration process is highly subjective.

"My basic interest is to show how decisions are being made in Australia's largest companies and to look at how executive pay is formulated," he said.

- Corey Nassau

		For information about postgraduate study programs in the Faculty of Business and Economics, contact Mr John Nairn on +61 3 9903 1434.