Morgan Stanley is changing the base salaries of several of its executive officers to reduce the level of bonuses they receive, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday.
The move is meant to "to move away from a compensation program focused largely on annual incentive awards toward one that is balanced between fixed, short-term and long-term compensation," the Securities and Exchange Commission filing said. "The salary adjustments are not intended to increase total annual compensation for the executive officers, but instead only to adjust the mix between fixed and variable compensation paid to them."
The increases are also meant to bring executive base salaries in line with peer companies, the New York investment bank said.
The base salary for Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John J. Mack remains unchanged at $800,000. Mack has not received a bonus for the past two years.
In a separate filing, Morgan Stanley revised its earnings per share results for the past three years due to an accounting change.
The company trimmed 6 cents off its earnings per share for 2008, cutting the results to $1.39 from $1.45.
For 2007, Morgan Stanley now says it earned $2.90 per share, down from $2.97.
And for 2006, the company said it earned $6.85 per share, rather than $6.96.
Morgan Stanley said its net income did not change in any of the years.
The changes were attributed to the company's adoption of a new accounting standard related to subsidiaries that are less than wholly owned, the filing said.