Time to answer questions about pay of directors

Probing how much individual professionals earn is usually not kosher. A recent poll of 1,000 Americans revealed that 53 per cent considered discussing their income at a dinner party taboo, second only to "the sex lives of those present" (59 per cent).

Taboos may vary from culture to culture, but it would appear we have a similar discomfort around director remuneration disclosures in Singapore, based simply on the low level of such disclosures by listed companies.

The Code of Corporate Governance requires that companies fully disclose the remuneration of individual directors on a named basis (Guideline 9.2). According to the 2014 SID-ISCA Singapore Directorship Report, only 31 per cent of all the 717 listed entities on the Singapore Exchange precisely disclosed directors' annual fees and remuneration.