New ISS Guidelines on Equity Plans

Institutional Shareowner Services (ISS), which provides widely followed advice to institutional investors on corporate governance matters, has issued its 2011 policy guidelines, including a new policy encouraging companies to hold annual say-on-pay votes for management. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 requires companies to have such votes every one, two, or three years. The frequency of the vote at each company will be determined by shareholders. In another recommendation prompted by forthcoming Dodd-Frank regulations, ISS will issue voting recommendations on golden parachute payments made in conjunction with corporate transactions on a case-by-case basis. Details on these and other provisions in the 2011 guidelines can be found at this link.