On December 18, 2015, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) published a set of updated FAQs regarding its US executive compensation policies. The FAQs cover:

Unlike in prior years, these FAQs do not include an Equity Related section. However, ISS also published FAQs regarding US equity compensation plans, which includes FAQs on ISS's evaluation of equity compensation plans and its Equity Plan Scorecard. For more information on ISS's equity plan FAQs, see Legal Update, ISS Issues Updated FAQs on US Equity Compensation Plans and Its Scorecard Approach.

As was the case for ISS's previous compensation policy FAQs, these FAQs provide general guidance and do not guarantee how the ISS Global Research Department will apply its benchmark policy in any particular situation.

For more information on proxy advisory firms and on ISS proxy voting recommendations, see Practice Note, Developing Relationships with Proxy Advisory Firms and Handling ISS Proxy Voting Recommendations Checklist.

Update: On March 16, 2016, ISS updated the FAQs on its 2016 US executive compensation policies and added two new questions (on when ISS considers equity awards to be performance-conditioned and what disclosure is necessary to assess the rigor of incentive programs). For more information, see ISS's website.