Creating an executive compensation plan: A corporate tax planning case

In this case, the student takes on the role of a compensation committee team member in a publicly traded corporation. The case task is to create a compensation plan for the company's CEO using past data regarding CEO compensation and specific incentives from proxy statements, along with financial statement performance data. To develop a comprehensive plan for the executive, students must incorporate numerous issues and course topics, both tax and nontax, applying them to the particular fact pattern. Pre-and post-case responses from students confirm that this case furthers their understanding of the interplay between corporate tax rules and executive compensation while cultivating critical thinking skills. The case has been used in both graduate tax and graduate accounting courses. To accommodate different teaching philosophies and course emphasis (tax or accounting), three variations of the project are provided.