Linkage of Compensation and Budgeted Performance
Traditionally, budgets have played a role in determining employee and executive compensation.
The traditional model is that such compensation would be at least partially a function of the difference between actual performance (sales, operating profit, net income, etc.) and budgeted performance for a given budget period, usually a year. This type of compensation plan is sometimes referred to as a fixed performance contract because actual performance is compared to a fixed (budgeted) target. While this traditional model may work well in some situations, we know that its usage can have dysfunctional consequences. That is, significant incentive (and ethical) issues arise when compensation is linked to a fixed-performance target. For example, such a reward system provides incentives for managers to submit biased information in their budgets. Budgetary slack, discussed earlier, is one example. In addition, the use of fixed targets reinforced by incentives motivates some managers to game the performance measure, that is, to take actions that make the performance indicator look better but do not increase the value of the firm. Finally, some would argue that the use of fixed budget targets unfairly rewards managers when actual performance is affected by factors, such as macroeconomic conditions, that are beyond the control or influence of the manager. In short, critics of the conventional fixed-performance model linked to compensation contend that this process is fundamentally flawed. At least two alternatives have been proposed as a way to deal with this problem: the use of linear compensation plans and the use of rolling forecasts combined with relative performance indicators.