{"id":462252,"date":"2021-01-20T11:16:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T09:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=462252"},"modified":"2021-01-20T11:16:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T09:16:55","slug":"heres-how-much-money-top-directors-earn-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/462252\/heres-how-much-money-top-directors-earn-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how much money top directors earn in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professional services company PwC has published its report on South African non-executive directors for 2021, highlighting how much top board members are earning in the country right now.<\/p>\n

The report focuses primarily on publicly available information, sourced from the JSE, AltX, the FTSE 100, the FTSE 250 and other stock exchanges.<\/p>\n

As directors\u2019 fees rarely follow a standard distribution curve, PwC used quartile\/percentage range rather than averages.<\/p>\n

In an analysis of the data, PwC said it is difficult to gauge how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted executive salaries in South Africa, as it has impacted different industries to varying extents.<\/p>\n

“The response to this impact has been that some non-executive directors took a temporary or permanent reduction in fees, or did not receive increases,” it said.<\/p>\n

“By contrast, Covid-19 may have resulted in additional meetings and the associated payment of ad-hoc fees for such meetings may have countered the effect of fee suppression in some instances.”<\/p>\n

The pandemic has also led to the movement of companies between large cap, medium cap and small cap categories which might distort the analysis slightly.<\/p>\n

Because of these changes and other factors, PwC said that the data should be for information purposes only and not for benchmarking.<\/p>\n

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Chairperson<\/strong><\/p>\n

An examination of all fees paid to JSE and AltX non-executive directors shows that the average salary was R1.89 million for chairpersons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe role of a chairperson is time-consuming as it includes work carried out between scheduled meetings, representing the organisation externally, and interacting with fellow board members and employees,\u201d PwC said.<\/p>\n

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Deputy chairperson\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

An examination of all fees paid to JSE and AltX non-executive directors shows that the average salary was R1.28 million for deputy chairpersons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that the chair and the deputy chair have a good working relationship and understand their roles to ensure that duplication or confused direction does not occur,\u201d PwC said.<\/p>\n

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Lead independent director<\/strong><\/p>\n

An examination of all fees paid to JSE and AltX non-executive directors shows that the average salary was R1.06 million for lead independent directors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lead independent director is required to preside at all meetings of the board at which the chairperson is not present or where the chairperson is conflicted.<\/p>\n

Their duties include calling meetings of the independent directors, where necessary, and serving as the principal liaison between the independent directors and the chairperson.<\/p>\n

Their responsibilities would also include liaising with major shareholders if requested by the board in circumstances in which the chairperson is conflicted.<\/p>\n

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Non-executive director
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

An examination of all fees paid to JSE and AltX non-executive directors shows that the average salary was R1.04 million for non-executive directors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Non-executive directors are required to make up the majority of a board\u2019s membership and should preferably be independent, PwC said.<\/p>\n

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Super-caps<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the above data provides an overview of the average salaries across the JSE, board members at \u2018super-cap\u2019 companies\u00a0 \u2013 making up the top 10 of the JSE \u2013 can expect to earn substantially more.<\/p>\n

In 2019 these companies included:<\/p>\n