Assessor Series FAQ #7

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Frequently Asked Questions

QUESTION:  We use ERI data in business valuation to assist with determining reasonable compensation for owners.  In litigation, attorneys request the sources of the numbers and the size (number of incumbents) of the survey.  Is there any way to find out how many respondents there are?  Where do I find this information?

Salary Assessor® Subscribers:

Executive compensation is available form SA+ (Consultant Edition) and is pulled from ERI's Executive Compensation Assessor® (XA/XA+) software and databases.  While the purpose of the Salary Assessor is to assist with an organization's salary planning and salary administration, it is not designed to support litigation research where one needs to pull actual source documents from ERI's terabyte fileservers.  For this purpose and for business valuations, please utilize the Executive Compensation Assessor & Survey Consultant Edition for this type of application.

Executive Compensation Assessor Subscribers:

The XA software and databases were built to support reasonable compensation and litigation research.  Left-click on any data point displayed on the graph to view the proxy data company and salary.  In addition, the software provides proxy data "comparables" (organization matches of your choice) for litigation purposes.  The XA software and databases access the most current SEC proxy data available from ERI's Platform Library® CD-ROM.  Similarly, the Nonprofit Comparables Assessor (TM) draws from public domain Form 990s/EOs/EZs/PFs where the actual source documents can be displayed via an Internet connection.  "Dots" are shown and counted; see the bottom left of the graph display for the population count.  The Comparables' Select tab allows one to filter organizations into any known count desired.

To View the Survey Population

To view ERI's estimate of the surveyed population of incumbents used in its most recent analysis for the selected position, select View |Survey Population from any main table.

Please note:  This feature requires the latest version of ERI's Platform Library®.

To View a List of Salary Surveys

Select View | Salary Surveys for a list of available wage/salary survey titles and publishers available.  Links to survey publisher web sites are provided.

You may also visit www.erieri.com for an up-to-date listing of "Sources." 

Please note: ERI does not necessarily endorse or recommend the surveys listed, nor are all of the surveys listed currently published or used in ERI's analyses and structures.  "Available Survey Sources" are included for the benefit of readers who may wish to supplement their current survey libraries with data appropriate to specific applications.  Confidential survey data is not included in ERI consensus analyses, unless permission is granted by the publisher.  Requests for information on individual surveys are referred directly to individual publishers.

ERI has utilized many of the listed surveys (although not all).  Some of the surveys listed are proprietary or confidential (to be shared only with the participants of that survey and not available to the general public).  Since 1987, ERI has been "trading" data with Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Agencies, state and provincial labour divisions, professional organizations and other entities in order to secure local cost and wage data.  From time to time, confidential material is sent to ERI, often unknowingly by the provider.  In these cases, ERI does not use this data unless permission is granted by the publishing organization.

ERI maintains a large "Historical Survey" library.  Please think of ERI should you have surveys on hand or in storage dating 1960-1995.  Future historical research projects may be enhanced greatly by this data.  Please contact ERI if your material is not a duplicate of already collected data.  Credit for subscription purposes will be awarded, or our research staff may trade current ERI products for old, soon to be discarded salary surveys.

For more information, also see the following topics in the Executive Compensation Assessor help: