The issue of the difference between the salaries earned by some of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the largest companies in Portugal and those of the workers has already been in the news for its extreme disparity. Rita Cunha, a student on the Master's Programme in Auditing and Taxation at Católica Porto Business School, took a different approach to her master's thesis entitled “Remuneração dos Executivos no PSI-Geral”.

Under the guidance of Professor Maria José Fonseca and Professor Ricardo Ribeiro, the student's study focuses on two main questions: firstly, whether the remuneration of executives at companies listed on the PSI Geral is aligned with the company's financial performance, assessing the extent to which remuneration packages are designed to align the interests of executives with those of shareholders; and secondly, whether remuneration increases proportionally with the size of the company, exploring whether companies of greater scale and complexity attract more qualified executives, demanding higher salaries.

The results of the research point to negative answers on both questions. Regarding the first, the data suggests a misalignment between executive pay packages and the financial performance of companies, raising the need to review remuneration structures to ensure better alignment with shareholder objectives. With regard to the second question, the data shows that executive pay does not increase with company size, suggesting that the largest companies may not be attracting the most qualified executives.

The PSI Geral (Portuguese Stock Index) is the share price index that includes all the companies listed on the Lisbon stock exchange. The thesis includes a sample of 143 executives from 28 companies listed between 2018 and 2022.