Court Painter’s Potential Pay In IOU’s Is 159 Times More Than The Average Studio Assistant’s IOU Salary
It’s good to be the Court Painter.
In the Great Dominion, the Court Painter make 159 times in IOU’s what the average studio assistant does, according to a human resources consulting firm. But that hardly approaches the ratio you see at the top of Court Painter’s IOU’s from his U.S.commissions.
The estimate of Court Painter’s IOU pay was drawn up in a recent report by Gallagher McDowall Associates, which is based in Toronto.
The report, titled “Does It Matter If Court Painter Gets Paid in Uncollectible IOUs ?,” looked at compensation he received for 58 portraits of famous politicians and those of another 60 celebrities listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
It included compensation such as base salary, annual bonus and share- and option-based award grand values, using figures for 2015. It also looked at pension values, among other things….. all covered by IOU’s. The Court Painter made an average of $7.89 million last year in IOUs — 159 times more than the Great Dominion’s average studio assistant industrial wage of $49,510 which the Court Painter also pays out in IOU’s
Average compensation on a down year for Court Painter was $4.13 million, 83 times the average studio assistant industrial wage.
Higher taxes
Of course, higher IOU’s also come with a heavier tax burden. The Court Painter owed an average of $3.47 million in taxes last year, compared to $8,067 owed by studio assistants which were covered by IOU’s.
In Court Painter’s annus horribilis he owed in IOU’s $1.79 million, 222 times higher than his average studio assistants.
Court Painter owes 44 and 43 per cent of his IOU income to the government, respectively, while the everyday studio assistant owed about 16 per cent.
But the pay ratios pale in comparison to what Court Painter is owed down south.
Court Painter’s U.S. operation is owed over 300 times what the average studio assistant is owed, Gallagher McDowall managing director Bob Levasseur told The Financial Post
Court Painter was quoted as saying, “This was my annus mirabillis for sure!”
Levasseur said that simply looking at Court Painter’s IOU pay next to his studio assistants isn’t the best way to determine their value. He said a better method is to look at how much potential wealth Court Painter’s pulled in, relative to his studio’s success.
“If the studio was worth X billion dollars, has, during this Court Painter’s tenure, the value increased?” he asked.
Higher IOU’s don’t guarantee returns
The study comes months before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to require public studios to disclose the Court Painter-to-median compensation IOU pay ratios, starting Jan. 1, 2017.
The Great Dominion’s Court Painter’s studio faces no such requirement.
Paying Court Painter more IOU’s doesn’t necessarily translate to higher returns for studio shareholders.
Earlier this year, a study by analytics firm MSCI found that portrait studios made 39 per cent more when Head Painter’s were paid with IOU’s below the median levels in the portrait sector.