For my company to discuss, I chose Apple, Inc. as they are a very well-
known company.
There are several big-name executives to discuss at Apple, Inc.,
however, I will focus on Tim Cook (the CEO) and Luca Maestri (the
CFO). Tim Cook, in 2021, earned a total of $98,734,394 – of which
only $3,000,000 was paid as salary while the rest was split between a
bonus ($12 million) and stock ($82.3 million). For Luca Maestri, we see
much lower, but still astronomical values. Luca Maestri, in 2021,
earned $26,978,503 total – of which, only $1,000,000 is paid as salary
while the rest is split between a bonus ($4 million) and stock ($22
million). To compare these salaries to a more average employee, I took
several different jobs salary values and averaged them – a design
engineer who earns $150k, a hardware engineer who earns $168k, a
technical specialist who earns $30k, and an operations analyst who
earns $87k. The average salary as computed was $108,750. Given this
average, the CEO (Tim Cook) earns roughly 28 times more than the
average salary of the average employee. Given the average, the CFO
(Luca Maestri) earns roughly 9 times more than the average salary of
the average employee. I think given how successful Apple, Inc. is and
how hard the executives work together, they are worth what they’re
paid. However, I think the employees under them, those who earn the
more average salary ranges, are worth more than their being paid, and
should be paid more.
Choosing to compensate an executive with stock in addition to salary
options is a great way to keep your executives invested in the success
of the company they are running – which is in large part why I believe
Apple, Inc. invests so much into stock for each of their executives. I
think the benefit of a guaranteed fully-invested executive who will
work hard to ensure financial success makes issuing stock worth it for
Apple, Inc.
Lastly, I think careful review of payroll registers against what was paid
to the executives is due each reporting period. Additionally, bonus
information must be reviewed. Finally, a full internal audit of stock
issued should be done to ensure extra stock is not being issued to
executives when it is not supposed to. How much stock is issued to
them should be calculated out somewhere so we can be sure that the
correct amount is being reported and issued.
References:
EDGAR - AAPL (Apple, Inc)
. Edgar Entity Landing Page. (n.d.).
Retrieved September 29, 2022, from
https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=320193&owner=exclude
Messier, W. F., Glover, S. M., & Prawitt, D. F. (2019).
Auditing &
Assurance Services: A Systematic Approach
. McGraw-Hill Education.
Salary.com, S. built by: (n.d.).
Compensation information for Luca
Maestri, senior vice president, chief financial officer of Apple Inc
.
Salary.com. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from
https://www1.salary.com/Luca-Maestri-Salary-Bonus-Stock-
Options-for-APPLE-INC.html
Salary.com, S. built by: (n.d.).
Compensation information for Tim
Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc
. Salary.com. Retrieved
September 29, 2022, from https://www1.salary.com/Tim-Cook-
Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-APPLE-INC.html
