1. What are the ethical issues in this case?
2. Who are the stakeholders impacted by this situation? How would you rank their claims?
3. Do you agree with Aflac’s decision? What are its pros and cons?
4. Should the SEC require companies to allow shareholders to vote on executive pay packages? Should the votes be binding? Why or why not?
5. Are there other decisions about which shareholders should be able to vote? What other shareholder proposals would you recommend?

As CEO pay levels soar, shareholders have begun to question how executive pay is set and whether the widening gap between executive and average worker compensation has become too great. As owners of the firm, they are asking for greater say in the setting of executive pay. Many were surprised when Aflac, a Fortune 200 firm, agreed with relatively little fuss. Perhaps they should not have been surprised. Fortune has ranked Aflac as one of the Best Places to Work and Most Admired Companies for many years. In addition, the Aflac duck ranks highly as one of America’s favorite brand icons.