As part of the problem, long-term incentive awards typically contain variable elements such as vesting, performance targets and timing of payouts once earned.
He conceded that several of the charities may not have had a "complete understanding" of the timing of payouts, the exact amount they would receive or that part of the pledges included directed donations.
Charles Bralver, a senior associate dean of international finance at Tufts University suggests something far more radical: "Tie the timing of payouts to the duration of the risk".
Given that SoftBanks's bid is priced at £17 per share, this means that ARM employees could share as much as £380m, although the timing of the payout is likely to be spread out and could be used to encourage talented engineers to stay at the company.
The other half he attributed to changes in the timing of bonus payouts.
Savills, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, declined to answer questions from the Guardian on the timing of bonus payouts to directors and other top earners.
The timing of big payouts for top management was never going to be good for Royal Bank of Scotland but it has been made worse by the political rhetoric building up over high pay deals in recent days.
HIGH-FINANCE marriages are crumbling along with the economy, divorce lawyers say, and because of it, couples who are splitting up are paying closer attention to the timing of bonus payouts and other economic trends in the hope of achieving the best possible settlement.
Much of this "forestalling" came in the form of higher dividend income, which surged in 2009-10 before plummeting a year later, as owner-directors of companies altered the timing of their own payouts.
According to the testimony, made public in a state court filing, Mr. Lewis told Mr. Cuomo's office that he had not been focused on the timing of the December payouts because he "was concerned about some pretty big things going on".
