When H&R Block published the amounts of compensation for its leaders this month, it looked more like an alumni club directory than a list of top executives as four out of the six persons named no longer work for the tax services chain. The SEC filing also shows that Russ Smyth lost millions of dollars in pay because of his abrupt resignation from the company last month with his fiscal 2010 compensation dropping by nearly $1.8 million.
Smyth pulled in $3.5 million in compensation for the year ended April 30, down 34 percent from $5.3 million for fiscal 2009. His voluntary department meant he received no bonus, and the company cancelled 506,085 in stock options and 28,095 shares of restricted stock. The outgoing CEO received a base salary of $950,000 for the most recently ended year, up from $783,750 the prior year and had a maximum target bonus of $1.05 million, but instead got none of that. The restricted stock had a market value of roughly $441,000 at current market prices. The stock options were exercisable at $18.51 per share, which is higher than the current trading price.
Becky Shulman, the CFO who resigned in April, made $835,759 in the most recently ended year, down from $875,280. Brian J. Worman, who resigned effective July 2 as chief legal counsel, received $1.8 million, but had not been on the named executive list the prior year. Timothy Gorkey, former president of U.S. tax operations, took in $1.3 million, a drop from $2.5 million. Gorkey left the company in May 2009
Of the two named executives who are still employed, chief marketing officer Robert Turtledove received $457,045. C.E. Andrews, president of RSM McGladrey Business Services, received just over $1 million. Both were hired during fiscal 2010.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
