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CEOPay

Our Methodology

CEOPay makes executive compensation at public companies searchable and grades whether pay aligns with performance. We believe shareholders deserve transparent tools to evaluate how their companies compensate leadership.

Data Sources

Our primary data source is SEC DEF 14A Proxy Statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission via EDGAR. These mandatory filings contain the Summary Compensation Table, which details total CEO pay including base salary, stock awards, option awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation, pension changes, and all other compensation.

We parse XBRL-tagged proxy filings (available since 2018) for machine-readable compensation data. We supplement with total shareholder return data, revenue figures, and say-on-pay vote results from annual proxy filings.

How We Calculate the Pay-for-Performance Score

Every company receives a Pay-for-Performance Score on a 0-100 scale (A-F) that grades whether CEO compensation is justified by company results:

  • Total Shareholder Return (3-year) — 40% weight. If shareholders earned strong returns, higher CEO pay is more justified. We compare TSR against industry peers to isolate company-specific performance from sector-wide trends.
  • Revenue Growth vs. Compensation Growth — 30% weight. CEO pay that grows faster than revenue is a red flag. We compare the 3-year CAGR of total CEO compensation against the 3-year CAGR of company revenue.
  • Say-on-Pay Vote Approval — 20% weight. The percentage of shareholders who approved the CEO's compensation in the most recent advisory vote. Approval below 70% is a significant governance concern.
  • CEO-to-Median-Worker Pay Ratio vs. Peers — 10% weight. The Dodd-Frank-mandated pay ratio, compared against industry median. Outlier ratios suggest potential misalignment.

Letter grades: A (80-100) means pay is well-justified by results; F (0-34) means pay significantly outpaces performance.

Data Collection Process

We query the SEC EDGAR full-text search API for DEF 14A filings, parse XBRL-tagged compensation tables, and extract key figures programmatically. Stock award valuations use the grant-date fair values reported by the company (which is the SEC's required methodology for the Summary Compensation Table).

Update Frequency

Most proxy statements are filed between February and May each year, ahead of annual shareholder meetings. We update company data within two weeks of each proxy filing. The bulk of updates happen in proxy season (March-May).

Known Limitations

  • Stock option and equity award values use grant-date fair value (Black-Scholes or similar), not realized value. Actual payouts may be significantly higher or lower.
  • The CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio methodology varies by company (companies choose their own calculation approach), making cross-company comparisons imperfect.
  • We cover publicly traded companies that file with the SEC. Private companies, partnerships, and foreign private issuers are not included.
  • The Pay-for-Performance Score is our own composite metric, not an official SEC or ISS designation.

How to Cite This Data

If you use data from CEOPay, please cite:

CEOPay. "[Company Name] Executive Compensation Data." ceopaywatch.com, 2026. Accessed [date].

Underlying data is sourced from SEC EDGAR proxy filings (DEF 14A) and is in the public domain.