The Structure of Middle Management Remuneration Packages: An Application to Australian Mine Managers

This paper investigates the composition of remuneration packages for middle managers and relates the structure of remuneration contracts to firm-specific attributes. A statutorily defined position in a single indust1) ' is studied as an e.xample of middle management. This allows us to control for differences in task complexity across managers and indust1)'-induced factors that could determine differences ill remuneration contracts. Higher-risk firms are expected to pay their mine managers a greater proportion of variable salaries and market and/or accounting-based compensation than low-risk firms. Results indicate that high-risk firms pay a higher proportion of variable salaries and more compensation based on market and/or accollnting performance. Keywords