"Our year-end performance was stronger than expected," said Sony's chief financial officer, Takao Yuhara, above.
IN EARLY JUNE Ms. McDevitt's bands played in the school's year-end performance.
The firm does not actually pay much of that out until early 2013, after it learns the year-end performance.
Q. You've just had a year-end performance evaluation and want to talk to your boss about a raise.
In the proxy, the S.E.C. wrote, "Bank of America represented that Merrill had agreed not to pay year-end performance bonuses".
Its flagship funds gained more than 20 percent through 2011, according to confidential year-end performance figures sent to investors on Thursday, crushing industry competitors who largely lost money last year.
When the stockmarket fell (as it did), so the theory goes, the portfolio investors would pile in, see Hong Kong shares climb again, and register a tidy capital gain before their year-end performance review.This theory may be too cute.
The reality is that it is often easier to just offer the salary and bonus in line with market expectations than linking strategic and financial objectives for a senior executive with a thoroughly evaluated year-end performance review.
In 2006, the accounting firm Ernst & Young did an internal study of its employees and found that for each additional 10 hours of vacation employees took, their year-end performance ratings from supervisors (on a scale of one to five) improved by 8 percent.
"As we conduct our year-end performance management process and evaluate the right size of the franchise for 2012, we anticipate the elimination of approximately 1,600 positions across the firm globally," Jeanmarie McFadden, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman, said in a statement.
One tip: Write your year-end performance review in January.
