CEO Fraud

What is CEO fraud and how is it happening? in simple terms it has come about because of concerns by the public of the huge salaries they get and how little they actually do for them, and to an extend it flows through both executive and non executive directors, and with company profits at lower levels than ever for many companies, rising customer prices, and austerity by Governments which have capped civil servants wage rises, the question is being asked loudly "why are CEO's still getting such huge salaries.

Mitigation was attempted with the usual diatribes and rhetoric, its market forces, its what similar sized companies pay their CEO in other countries, and we have to attract the correct calibre of person for the role; which of course many people are seeing through, especially with utility providers such as water, gas, and electricity, and yet we see these companies having more issues than ever before, and many more major or extremely serious incidents that ever, so such questions are appropriate, and many people in these positions are leaving after disasterous results under their leadership.

Now the new wave of fraud is being committed and this begins with the salary which are suddenly being dropped by significant amounts so why were they being paid this in the first place? but this is merely a diversionary tactic to deflect away from the real truth of what is happening as much reduced salaries are merely a front as they are publically accessible and anyone with more than a single brain cell can look them up, but this is merely a front as most people won't look them up and newspapers and other media cannot use them as whipping tools against a specific CEO and this imediately reduces any bad publicity against a company. Instead they are using NDA's (non disclosure agreements) to hide their true income from a CEO position and this is in perks or benefits, so how does this work? actually very simply, they get a package and this makes them better off than they were before their salary was reduced, so lets look at an actual example of this.

CEO of a well known company - salary was £435,000 per annum now dropped to £220,000 per annum.
Expenses, £177,000 before the salary drop, £312,000 after salary drop.
Performance bonus £102,000 before salary drop, guaranteed bonus of £205,000 after salary drop.

On this alone we see the CEO was earning £435,000 + £177,000 + £102,000 = £714,000 per annum before the salary drop.
After his (it was a man) salary drop it was £220,000 + £312,000 + £205,000 = £737,000 which is already more than he previously had, and his bonus was guaranteed.

Now things got serious as in both instances he gets a fully expensed company car and the usual lap top and mobile phone, the expense account and usual niceties such as a clothing allowance and other peripherals. This company pays his Benefit In Kind and Company Car Allowance taxes.

Now he got a mortgage on a property fully underwritten by the company and guaranteed, this house cost £2.6M and the company currently pays this mortgage until its paid in full, irrespective of whether he leaves the company or retires in 4 years time, basically he is guaranteed a £2.6M asset, this house has never been lived in by him and is rented out with the profits going into an offshore trust.
He now gets a guaranteed lifetime private healthcare package for him and his wife and children and their spouses.
He gets a guaranteed pay off of £5.2M index linked to inflation when he leaves the company, is finished by the company, or retires.
Now the killer blow, the company pays his utility bills on both properties which includes gas, electricity, water, telephone/internet, his entire families mobile phone bills, and his mortgage on his existing property, and any repairs, refurbishment, and additional work he may want to do now or in the future, irrespective of whether he remains at, or leaves the company, and any rates/council tax on both properties for life.

In addition to this he gets two private cars every year for life and one is his and the other his wifes, irrespective of whether he remains or goes from the company but if he leaves the company he retains his company car until it reaches a year old.
These cars are fully fuelled and serviced by the company for life so he can do 30,000 miles per annum and the company pays, in addition they insure these cars.

There is a lot more, but add this up and you can understand NDA and how they only profit and never lose when their salaries are reduced solely for public perception.