A senior executive at a listed company has compensation that is, by securities rules, part of the public record. The annual proxy filing (or its equivalent in non-US jurisdictions) sets out salary, bonus, stock awards, option grants, retirement contributions, and any other named items. The aggregate is named; the components are named; the comparisons with peer executives are made in the same filing.

The accompanying narrative explains the rationale. The compensation committee's reasoning is recounted, the performance metrics are described, the peer group is named, the consultants are credited. The reader who knows how to read such a filing can derive a quite specific picture of what the executive is paid to do and what is expected of them.

Stock holdings are recorded separately. The executive's ownership above a small threshold is on permanent file, along with each transaction (purchase, sale, gift, exercise of options) recorded by date. The 10b5-1 plans that govern pre-arranged transactions are themselves disclosed. The aggregate position changes from quarter to quarter, and each change is read by analysts who follow the company.

Severance and change-of-control arrangements, where they exist, are required to be quantified. The hypothetical payment under various scenarios is disclosed. The reader who studies the filing learns, in some detail, what would happen if the executive's tenure ended in one way or another.

· · ·

For executives at a certain seniority, the compensation filing is read by their families, by their successors, by their would-be employers, and (over a long enough period) by their adult children's schoolmates. The visibility is not voluntary; it is the consequence of holding the role.

The desk works with executives in such positions on the picture that surrounds the filing, since the filing itself cannot be altered. The accompanying record (personal property, family arrangements, charitable activity) is the field in which composure is still possible.

Where this picture matters to a client, the desk reads it in detail and considers what considered work is feasible.