Fees paid to the directors of State Owned Enterprises tagged for privatisation may have to be doubled to be brought in line with those of listed companies.
The latest Moyle Director Remuneration Survey shows that listed company directors are paid nearly double their counterparts in public-sector organisations.
In the public sector the median director's fee is $27,000 compared with nearly $54,000 for listed company directors.
Moyle Remuneration Consulting director Jarrod Moyle says it will be difficult to reconcile the pay disparity as the state owned enterprises involved in the privatisation process set director fees.
Mr Moyle says the survey also shows a growing fee gap between Australian and New Zealand directors.
In some cases, Australian directors are being paid four times more than their New Zealand counterparts at similar sized companies.
He also says boards should consider reviewing fees annually to avoid lumping shareholders with large catch-up increases of up to 30%.
