Finding stories in the fine print

Using documents available from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Del Jones of USA Today crafted a story about how public companies have increased spending on security for CEOs while cutting other costs.

Starbucks, which has laid off workers, closed stores and switched from whole to 2% milk to save pennies a gallon, bumped its spending to $511,079 last year on the personal and home security of CEO Howard Schultz. FedEx, which quit matching employee 401(k) contributions, spent $595,875 on the security of CEO Fred Smith. Walt Disney spent $645,368 for CEO Robert Iger; Occidental Petroleum spent $575,407 for Ray Irani; and McKesson spent $401,706 for John Hammergren.

Top execs usually get more death threats when layoffs and closures occur, the story says.

Today’s Tip: Keep your eyes out for proxy statements, also known as DEF 14A. These statements provide details about CEO compensation and benefits. You can see the latest filings at http://secwatch.com or http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

For instance, Sara Lee Corp. filed its proxy on Wednesday. Along with disclosing CEO Brenda Barnes’ total compensation for fiscal 2009 of $15.2 million, it also notes that the company has discontinued the use of its corporate jet.

A great watchdog of the footnotes in SEC documents is Michelle Leder, who shares what she finds on her blog at www.footnoted.org. Until earlier this year, she also did a blog for BusinessJournalism.org called Under the Magnifying Glass. She is the author of the 2003 book, Financial Fine Print: Uncovering a Company's True Value.

The $4.9 Billion Man

“Coral Gables banker Alfred R. Camner is the $4.9 billion man.” That’s Martha Brannigan’s lede on one of two retrospective articles she did on the failed BankUnited for The Miami Herald. The articles describe how BankUnited provided fat salaries and bonuses for Camner and his family and paid his law firm, also run by kin, more than $30.9 million in legal fees. And now, the bank's failed lending strategy will end up costing the FDIC almost $5 billion.

Today’s Tip: Use retrospective articles to put current news in context. For publicly traded companies, look for sources such as investors with large amounts of stock or corporate governance experts, such as The Corporate Library in Portland, Me. SEC documents, available via the online EDGAR database, can help sort out executive compensation and family connections among company officials.

In this example, Brannigan uses a writing technique often employed by The Wall Street Journal – telling the story through one key player. In this case, it’s the bank’s founder.