Compensation Actually Paid (CAP)
Compensation Actually Paid (CAP) is the SEC pay-vs-performance measure that adjusts Summary Compensation Table totals to fair-value equity — defined, with a worked example.
The short version
Compensation Actually Paid (CAP) is the SEC's pay-vs-performance measure — the headline number in every company's Pay Versus Performance table, required since fiscal year 2022 under Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K.
Start with the Summary Compensation Table (SCT) total. Strip out the grant-date value of equity awards. Add back the fair value of those awards at each subsequent measurement date (year-end while unvested, the vest date once vested). What's left is CAP: a number that moves with the stock price, not just with what the board granted.
The acronyms, in one place
PEO — Principal Executive Officer, the SEC's term for the CEO. NEO — Named Executive Officer, the handful of top-paid executives a company must disclose pay for. SCT — Summary Compensation Table, which values equity once, at grant. TSR — Total Shareholder Return, the value a $100 investment would be worth, dividends included; an index value, not a share price.
Frequently asked
What is Compensation Actually Paid (CAP)?
CAP is the SEC's pay-vs-performance measure (Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K), disclosed by every US public company since fiscal year 2022. It starts from the Summary Compensation Table (SCT) total and replaces the grant-date value of unvested equity awards with their fair value at each subsequent year-end (or vest date), so the number tracks stock-price moves the SCT total doesn't. Item 402(v) has a second adjustment leg as well: the change in actuarial present value of pension benefits is backed out of the SCT total and replaced with the year's service and prior-service cost. CAP can therefore be negative — a year in which the adjustments exceed the reported total — without anything being repaid. We extract the filer's reported CAP figure itself, not the adjustment breakdown, so this site does not attribute a given company's swing to the equity leg or the pension leg.
How is CAP different from the Summary Compensation Table total?
The SCT total values equity awards once, at grant. CAP re-values unvested awards every year until they vest, then locks in the vest-date value. In a year the stock rises, CAP is typically higher than the SCT total (and vice versa) — that swing is the point: it's meant to show what an executive's pay is really worth given how the stock actually performed.
Where can I find a company's CAP figure?
In the company's DEF 14A proxy statement, under the Pay Versus Performance table. Every company page here links each number directly to the tagged fact in that filing. (For developers: the underlying iXBRL concepts are ecd:PeoActuallyPaidCompAmt for the CEO and ecd:NonPeoNeoAvgCompActuallyPaidAmt for the average of the other named executives.)
Is CAP the same as 'total compensation'?
No — CAP is a disclosure-only construct required by the SEC pay-vs-performance rule. It is not used for tax, accounting, or (usually) the company's own pay-setting decisions; those still reference the SCT total and target grant-date values.
Related terms
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