We extend the contracting paradigm advanced in Smith and Watts (1992) to consider cross-sectional associations between investment opportunities and the sensitivity of CEO compensation to performance measures. We predict stronger associations between compensation and performance for firms with greater investment opportunities. We also predict greater use of market-based, rather than accounting-based, performance indicators as a basis for incentive payments when investment opportunities are substantial components of firm value. Results for specifications of 1992 and 1993 changes in compensation paid to CEOs of 1,249 publicly-traded U.S. firms are consistent with these hypotheses.

Surya N. Janakiraman, Richard A. Lambert, David F. Larcker, An Empirical Investigation of the Relative Performance Evaluation Hypothesis, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 53-69

A fundamental assumption in cost accounting is that the relation between costs and volume is symmetric for volume increases and decreases. In this study, we investigate whether costs are “sticky”—that is, whether costs increase more when activity rises than they decrease when activity falls by an equivalent amount. We find, for 7,629 firms over 20 years, that selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs increase on average 0.55% per 1% increase in sales but decrease only 0.35% per 1% decrease in sales. Our analysis compares the traditional model of cost behavior in which costs move proportionately with changes in activity with an alternative model in which sticky costs occur because managers deliberately adjust the resources committed to activities. We test hypotheses about the properties of sticky costs and how the degree of stickiness of SG&A costs varies with firm circumstances.