Companies in the US must now reveal how much staff are paid compared with the CEO, a move that will give significant firepower to activist investors. This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted three to two to pass the measures, which were part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that aims to reform Wall Street and lower risk in the financial sector.story_article_left1The average chief executive in the US was paid 295.9 times more than a typical worker in 2013, according to the Economic Policy Institute.It also found that CEO compensation rose 937% between 1978 and 2013, compared with 10.2% for a typical staff member."Pay ratio disclosure should provide a valuable piece of information to investors and others in the marketplace," the commission's Kara Stein said.The new law is likely to boost the power held by investors when firms release their remuneration reports.In May, shareholders in banking giant JP Morgan were urged to vote against CEO Jamie Dimon's $20-million (about R254-million) pay package.In 2012, Citigroup shareholders rejected the bank's plan to pay its then-boss, Vikram Pandit, $15-million despite its shares falling 44%.The debate on equal pay has also divided politicians, with Democrats generally in favour of the new law, and Republicans, along with the Chamber of Commerce, fighting its introduction.The chamber claimed that revealing pay gaps could mislead investors and was not material to a company's financial results...