Lessons from Lian Beng for remuneration committees

AS an independent director (ID) and member of the remuneration committee (RC), what would you do if you had "differences in opinion from the management over certain company affairs" relating to how management should be compensated?

For two IDs at Lian Beng Group Ltd, a building construction and civil engineering company listed on the SGX, their course of action was to resign in mid-2015. Both had been members of the board since the company's IPO in 1999, so the decision could not have been made lightly.

In a nutshell, the differences in opinion centred on how the performance bonuses of the chairman and managing director, and the two other executive directors (EDs) - who are also the chairman's siblings - should be computed.