The pay gap between CEOs and the average Australian worker has also narrowed. CEO pay was 55 times that of the average worker last year; in 2014 it was closer to 70 times average earnings.

In comparison, a recent US study showed its top CEOs are paid the equivalent of 360 times the earnings of the average US worker, and a study involving the UK top 100 companies put that figure over the 100 mark – although these companies are much larger than the top Australian companies.

“We haven’t seen that pay breakout that you’ve seen in other markets, particularly places like the US,” said ACSI executive Ed John.

Australia’s highest paid chief executive, in terms of real pay taken home last year, was Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp boss Robert Thomson, with $41.9 million.

The surprise packet was the recently departed CEO of Lovisa, the fashion jewellery retailer with a rapidly expanding global footprint. Victor Herrero walked out the door last year with a $39.5 million pay packet despite the group not even making it into the top 100 companies by market valuation.

Lovisa has been accused of forcing hundreds of young women to work free before and after their rostered hours and during lunch breaks in a class action lawsuit, filed in January, that more than 300 people have signed up to.

Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake was next on the list with $29.7 million.

Despite its research showing that real pay packets, including bonuses, had stagnated, ACSI said bonuses were still proving to be of questionable benefit for investors, judging by companies’ total shareholder returns. Last year, only one ASX100 CEO who was eligible for a bonus did not receive one.

The pandemic-hit 2020 financial year was the only one in which eligible CEOs received less than 60 per cent of the maximum bonus they could be awarded.

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“The bonus persistence is still a concern,” ACSI’s Ed John says. “Over the coming months, with the reporting season happening, investors will be watching very closely to … make sure that any bonuses match company performance and that companies are delivering.”

Last year’s payments included a $3.8 million termination cheque for Star Entertainment boss Robbie Cooke, whose tenure ended with the casino operator on the brink of bankruptcy.

There were also pay controversies that were not caught under termination payments – none more public than that involving Qantas boss Alan Joyce, who retired from the airline last year with its reputation in tatters but still walked away with more than $18 million in base pay and bonuses despite having $9 million stripped from his entitlements.

There are other distortions, of course. The lowest-paid CEO remains Jack Dorsey, the billionaire Twitter co-founder who has an ASX presence thanks to the takeover of Afterpay by his digital payments group Block.

His pay of $US2.75 may seem low, but it is a significant upgrade from his $US1.40 remuneration as Twitter CEO in 2018, which barely covered the public bus fare he used for his commute to work.

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