Bonuses, which make up the biggest component of annual compensation for most Wall Street executives, rose 15% last year, Johnson says.

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His first budget as president in 1993 limited the amount of executive pay that could be deducted from pretax earnings, so companies significantly increased stock options as a component of executive compensation.

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Day's predecessor had increased the fixed component of store associate compensation, but there have been signs that Day is moving to diminish the fixed component and bolster incentive pay for store associates, particularly for moving higher-margin products like batteries.

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Although salaries for British chief executives are about 20% higher than for Americans, they are becoming less important as a component of pay, accounting for 52% of total compensation in 1997, but only 41% in 2003.

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