CEO’s annual planning perk tops $400K

Financial institutions may be getting all the attention when it comes to executive perks, but one non-financial firm has raised eyebrows with the top-dollar compensation its chief executive gets for financial planning services.

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. paid $403,285 last year for financial planning services for chairman and chief executive Ray Irani, according to its proxy.

While it’s just a fraction of the $60.4 million in total compensation Mr. Irani pulled in last year, the financial planning perk is roughly 26 times the value of the typical $15,500 awarded to CEOs at many large companies.

Mark Borges, a compensation consultant at San Jose, Calif.-based Compensia Inc., who pointed out the perk, noted that Occidental’s proxy states that Mr. Irani’s financial planning costs also include “investment services,” in addition to the basic tax and planning advice offered to other top executives as compensation.

Richard Kline, an Occidental spokesman, could not immediately offer further details on these services.

— Mark Bruno