ExecuComp¶
Overview¶
ExecuComp provides detailed executive and director compensation data for S&P 1500 companies (S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600). The data is sourced from companies' annual proxy statements (DEF 14A filings).
What you can find here:
- Executive compensation: salary, bonus, stock awards, option awards, non-equity incentive plan, pension changes, total compensation (TDC1/TDC2)
- Stock option details: grants, exercises, Black-Scholes valuations, outstanding awards
- Director compensation: board member fees, stock awards, option awards
- Pension and deferred compensation: present value of pension benefits, deferred compensation balances
- Company-level data: CEO pay ratio, company financial metrics linked to compensation
- Executive information: name, title, age, tenure, gender
Coverage starts from 1992 for most companies.
WRDS Access¶
- WRDS web interface: ExecuComp
- WRDS product name:
comp_execucomp - Python API library:
comp_execucomp - Update frequency: Monthly
- Data dictionary: Link
Key Tables¶
Core Compensation Data¶
| Table | Description | Use case |
|---|---|---|
anncomp |
Annual Compensation | Merged aggregate-level data — the main table for executive compensation. Contains salary, bonus, stock/option awards, total compensation per executive per year. |
directorcomp |
Director Compensation | Board member compensation data |
deferredcomp |
Deferred Compensation | Deferred compensation plan details |
pension |
Pension Benefits | Present value of accumulated pension benefits |
Award & Grant Details¶
| Table | Description | Use case |
|---|---|---|
outstandingawards |
Outstanding Equity Awards | Unvested stock and unexercised option awards at fiscal year end |
planbasedawards |
Plan Based Awards | Equity and non-equity incentive plan awards granted during the year |
ex_black |
Black-Scholes Means | Black-Scholes valuations of option grants |
ltawdtab |
Long Term Incentive Awards (1992 format) | Historical LTI award data in legacy format |
stgrttab |
Stock Option Grants (1992 format) | Historical option grant data in legacy format |
Company & Executive Identifiers¶
| Table | Description | Use case |
|---|---|---|
exnames |
Company Names | Company names and identifiers (GVKEY, ticker, CUSIP) |
person |
Executive Information | Executive biographical data (name, gender, age) |
colev |
Company Level Information | Company-level aggregates and financial data |
coperol |
Company-Person Specifics | Mapping of executives to companies and roles |
ex_header |
Combined Header | Combined header with company and person info |
Legacy / Historical¶
| Table | Description |
|---|---|
codirfin |
Company Financial and Director Compensation (2005 and prior) |
Example: Querying Executive Compensation¶
import wrds
conn = wrds.Connection()
# List available tables
conn.list_tables(library='comp_execucomp')
# Get CEO compensation for S&P 500 firms
ceo_pay = conn.raw_sql("""
SELECT gvkey, year, exec_fullname, coname, title, salary, bonus,
stock_awards, option_awards, total_curr, tdc1
FROM comp_execucomp.anncomp
WHERE year >= 2019
AND ceoann = 'CEO'
""")
For more examples, see the Python API notebook.