Time for an update on exec comp. Specifically, the SEC now needs to issue a couple of regulations to deal with exec comp disclosures. And, corporate interests have begun to lobby for ways to make these new disclosures, and perhaps many others, more confusing and less useful. 

The current debate revolves around how to define "compensation" - what to include and exclude, and how to measure some of the variable elements. In particular, companies today disclose a confusing mash-up of cash and equity comp. They have begun to lobby for either or both of "realized" or "realizable" comp as the definitive measure of what they paid their CEO, CFO, and other top execs. Investors will hear these terms much more in the coming months. 

Companies prefer realized comp - in other words, what they actually paid to an executive in a fiscal year. Some observers have described it as what would show up on the executive's annual W-2 form. This approach at best confuses an already murky set of disclosures. It will also confound attempts to link pay to performance. Finally, it could understate exec comp, and make comp disclosures look much better for executives.