Although we, like many other analysts, find very weak links between pay amounts and company financial performance, the usual justification for high executive pay is that they are connected to enhanced profits and above-average capital appreciation for the shareholders who foot the bill. If we grant the assumption that pay should be determined by performance, and then use a basic statistical technique to map actual performance outcomes to predicted levels of pay relative to those outcomes, we can then see how much the CEO pay package exceeded such a prediction.

Source: As You Sow